rattler

See also: Rattler

English

Etymology

rattle +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹætələ(ɹ)/, /ˈɹætlə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætlə(ɹ)

Noun

rattler (plural rattlers)

1. Anything that rattles.
2. (chiefly US, informal) A rattlesnake.
3. A freight train or, (chiefly British), a passenger train.
4. (colloquial) Any decrepit or noisy vehicle, such as a cart, carriage or train.
5. (colloquial, dated) A loud, inconsiderate talker.
6. (colloquial, dated) A stunning blow.
   • (Can we date this quote by Alexander Montgomery and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?), Five-Skull Island And Other Tales of the Malay Archipelago

     […] laid handsomely out with such a rattler on the nose as nobody could have expected from a casky little man of five-feet-nothing.

7. (colloquial, dated) An impudent lie; a whopper.

Derived terms

• bead-rattler
• diamondback rattler
• jump the rattler
• rattler-jumper
• rattler-jumping
• red rattler
• sabre-rattler

 

Translations

rattlesnake — see rattlesnake

freight train

something which rattles

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary

Anagrams

• tratler