ˈratlə(r), -ad. ə l-, -at ə l- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English rateler, from ratelen to rattle + -er — more at rattle
1. : one that rattles: as
a. : rattle 2b
b. : a vehicle (as an automobile, trolley car, or railway car) that rattles ; specifically : a freight train
grab fast rattlers for the West — Thomas Wolfe
2. : something extraordinarily good of its kind : a fine specimen (as of a horse, storm, blow, game, or book)
a rattler of a storm
3.
a. : rattlesnake
b. : rattle 4 — usually used in plural
a rattlesnake rattling his rattlers — Ernest Hemingway
4.
a. : a revolving drum in which paving bricks are rotated with a charge of cast iron to test their abrasive resistance
b. : a device for shaking out the cores from small castings : tumbling barrel
c. : a device for finishing materials (as metal, concrete blocks, or bricks) consisting of a closed receptacle in which the material to be finished is shaken up with blocks of metal or abrasive
5. : rattlebrain