different between clack vs rattle

English

Etymology

From Middle English clacken, clakken, claken, from Old English *clacian (“to slap, clap, clack”), from Proto-Germanic *klak?n? (“to clap, chirp”). Cognate with Scots clake, claik (“to utter cries", also "to bedaub, sully with a sticky substance”), Dutch klakken (“to clack, crack”), Low German klakken (“to slap on, daub”), Norwegian klakke (“to clack, strike, knock”), Icelandic klaka (“to twitter, chatter, wrangle, dispute”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klæk/

Noun

clack (plural clacks)

1. An abrupt, sharp sound, especially one made by two hard objects colliding repetitively; a sound midway between a click and a clunk.
2. Anything that causes a clacking noise, such as the clapper of a mill, or a clack valve.
3. Chatter; prattle.

   • whose chief intent is to vaunt his spiritual clack

4. (colloquial) The tongue.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

clack (third-person singular simple present clacks, present participle clacking, simple past and past participle clacked)

1. (intransitive) To make a sudden, sharp noise, or succession of noises; to click.
2. (transitive) To cause to make a sudden, sharp noise, or succession of noises; to click.
3. To chatter or babble; to utter rapidly without consideration.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Feltham to this entry?)
4. (Britain) To cut the sheep's mark off (wool), to make the wool weigh less and thus yield less duty.
5. Dated form of cluck.
   • 1934, Gladys Bagg Taber, Late Climbs the Sun (page 30)

     Only the chickens clacked at the Saturday quiet and fat mouse-minded cats licked whiskers on the empty steps.

   • 1964, Frances Margaret Cheadle McGuire, Gardens of Italy (page 57)

     We drive on between meadows of mown grass, through a pergola of vines, and so to an orchard of peaches, apples, and pears and a hen colony housed in neat modern cottages, the chickens clacking and scratching away […]

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??æt.l?/
• Rhymes: -æt?l

Etymology 1

Verb from Middle English [Term?], either from Old English [Term?] (not attested) or Middle Dutch ratelen, ultimately imitative. The noun (c. 1500) is from the verb.

Noun

rattle (countable and uncountable, plural rattles)

1. (onomatopoeia) a sound made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.
   • 1902, Arthur M. Winfield, The Rover Boys in the Mountains Chapter 4

     The rattle of a drum.

2. A baby’s toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.
3. A device that makes a rattling sound such as put on an animal so its location can be heard.
4. (music) A musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.

   • The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other.

5. (dated) Noisy, rapid talk.
   • 1627, George Hakewill, Apologie […] of the Power and Providence of God

     All this adoe about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceipt.

6. (uncountable, now rare) Trivial chatter; gossip.
   • 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, III.v.5:

     “And pray where, Lady Honoria,” cried Mrs. Delvile, “do you contrive to pick up all this rattle?”

7. (dated) A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
8. A scolding; a sharp rebuke.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Heylin to this entry?)

9. (zoology) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.

10. The noise produced in the throat by air passing through mucus which the lungs struggle to clear.
11. 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.
12. Any plant of the genus Rhinanthus, whose seeds produce a rattling noise in the wind.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

rattle (third-person singular simple present rattles, present participle rattling, simple past and past participle rattled)

1. (transitive, ergative) To create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.
2. (transitive, informal) To scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.
   • 1923, P. G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves

     “Tut!” said old Bittlesham. “Tut is right”, I agreed. Then the rumminess of the thing struck me. “But if you haven’t dropped a parcel over the race,” I said, “why are you looking so rattled?”

   • 2014, Richard Rae, "Manchester United humbled by MK Dons after Will Grigg hits double", The Guardian, 26 August 2014:

     That United were rattled, mentally as well as at times physically – legitimately so – was beyond question. Nick Powell clipped a crisp drive a foot over the bar, but otherwise Milton Keynes had the best of the remainder of the first half.

3. (intransitive) To make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To assail, annoy, or stun with a ratting noise.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To scold; to rail at.

   • This came to the Bishop's Ear, who presently sent for the Curate, Rattled him to some Tune, with Menaces to the Highest Degree

6. To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering.

7. To make a clatter with one's voice; to talk rapidly and idly; often with on or away.

Translations

Derived terms

See also

Etymology 2

From Arabic ?????? (ra?l), variant of classical ?????? (ri?l), ultimately from Ancient Greek ????? (lítra). Doublet of liter.

Noun

rattle (plural rattles)

1. (historical units of measure) Alternative form of rottol: a former Middle Eastern and North African unit of dry weight usually equal to 1–5 lb (0.5–2.5 kg).

Anagrams

• Tatler, latter