1. Make short successive sounds
   "The windows rattled during the storm"
    
2. Shake and cause to make a rattling noise
   "The wind rattled the windows"
    
3. [informal] Disturb the composure of
   "Good, it shouldn't rattle him at all";
   - faze, unnerve, enervate, unsettle

1. A baby's toy that makes percussive noises when shaken
   "The infant giggled as she shook the colourful rattle"
    
2. A rapid series of short loud sounds (as might be heard with a stethoscope in some types of respiratory disorders)
   "the death rattle";
   - rattling, rale
    
3. Loosely connected horny sections at the end of a rattlesnake's tail
   "The sound of the rattlesnake's rattle served as a clear warning"

Derived forms: rattling, rattles, rattled

See also: jaw [informal], rattle off

Type of: agitate, discomfit, discompose, disconcert, go, noise, plaything, shake, sound, tail, toy, untune [rare], upset

Part of: rattler [N. Amer, informal], rattlesnake

Encyclopedia: Rattle, Derbyshire