rattle

Definitions

• (onomatopoeia) a sound made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.
• A baby’s toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.
• A device that makes a rattling sound such as put on an animal so its location can be heard.
• (musical instruments) A musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.
• (dated) Noisy, rapid talk.
• (now) Trivial chatter; gossip.
• (dated) A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
• A scolding; a sharp rebuke.
• (zoology) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.
• The noise produced in the throat by air passing through mucus which the lungs struggle to clear.
• The noise in the throat produced by the air in passing through mucus which the lungs are unable to expel - sometimes occurs as a person nears death; death rattle.
• Any plant of the genus Rhinanthus, whose seeds produce a rattling noise in the wind.