rattle
verb/ˈrætl/
/ˈrætl/
(informal)Verb Forms
Idioms Phrasal Verbs| present simple I / you / we / they rattle | /ˈrætl/ /ˈrætl/ |
| he / she / it rattles | /ˈrætlz/ /ˈrætlz/ |
| past simple rattled | /ˈrætld/ /ˈrætld/ |
| past participle rattled | /ˈrætld/ /ˈrætld/ |
| -ing form rattling | /ˈrætlɪŋ/ /ˈrætlɪŋ/ |
- [intransitive, transitive] rattle (something) to make a series of short loud sounds when shaking or hitting against something hard; to make something do this
- Every time a bus went past, the windows rattled.
- He shook me so hard that my teeth rattled.
- She stood there, rattling the collecting tin.
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- [intransitive] + adv./prep. (of a vehicle) to make a series of short loud sounds as it moves somewhere
- A convoy of trucks rattled by.
- [transitive] rattle somebody to make somebody nervous or frightened synonym unnerve
- He was clearly rattled by the question.
- Are you all right? You look a bit rattled.
see also sabre-rattling
Word OriginMiddle English: related to Middle Dutch and Low German ratelen, of imitative origin.
Idioms
See rattle in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryrattle somebody’s cage
- (informal) to annoy somebody
- Who's rattled his cage?
Check pronunciation:
rattle