And the rude hail in rattling tempest forms.

Addison.

'T was but the wind, Or the car rattling o'er the stony street.

Byron.

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2. To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering; as, we rattled along for a couple of miles. [Colloq.]

3. To make a clatter with the voice; to talk rapidly and idly; to clatter; -- with on or away; as, she rattled on for an hour. [Colloq.]

Rat"tle (rt"t'l), v. t. 1. To cause to make a rattling or clattering sound; as, to rattle a chain.

2. To assail, annoy, or stun with a rattling noise.

Sound but another [drum], and another shall As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear.

Shak.

3. Hence, to disconcert; to confuse; as, to rattle one's judgment; to rattle a player in a game. [Colloq.]

4. To scold; to rail at. L'Estrange.

To rattle off. (a) To tell glibly or noisily; as, to rattle off a story. (b) To rail at; to scold. "She would sometimes rattle off her servants sharply." Arbuthnot.

Rat"tle, n. 1. A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the rattle of a drum. Prior.

2. Noisy, rapid talk.

All this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit.

Hakewill.

3. An instrument with which a rattling sound is made; especially, a child's toy that rattles when shaken.

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

Sir W. Raleigh.

Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw.

Pope.

4. A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.

It may seem strange that a man who wrote with so much perspicuity, vivacity, and grace, should have been, whenever he took a part in conversation, an empty, noisy, blundering rattle.

Macaulay.

5. A scolding; a sharp rebuke. [Obs.] Heylin.

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

The rattle of a rattlesnake is composed of the hardened terminal scales, loosened in succession, but not cast off, and so modified in form as to make a series of loose, hollow joints.

7. The noise in the throat produced by the air in passing through mucus which the lungs are unable to expel; -- chiefly observable at the approach of death, when it is called the death rattle. See Râle.

To spring a rattle, to cause it to sound. -- Yellow rattle (Bot.), a yellow-flowered herb (Rhinanthus Crista-galli), the ripe seeds of which rattle in the inflated calyx.

Rat"tle*box` (-bks`), n. 1. A toy that makes a rattling sound; a rattle.

2. (Bot.) (a) An American herb (Crotalaria sagittalis), the seeds of which, when ripe, rattle in the inflated pod. (b) Any species of Crotalaria, a genus of yellow-flowered herbs, with inflated, many-seeded pods.

Rat"tle-brained` (-brnd`), a. Giddy; rattle-headed.

Rat"tle*head` (-hd`), n. An empty, noisy talker.

Rat"tle-head`ed, a. Noisy; giddy; unsteady.

Rat"tle*mouse` (-mous`), n. A bat. [Obs.] Puttenham.

Rat"tle*pate` (-pt`), n. A rattlehead. C. Kingsley.

Rat"tle-pat`ed, a. Rattle- headed. "A noisy, rattle-pated fellow." W. Irving.

Rat"tler (-tlr), n. One who, or that which, rattles.

Rat"tle*snake` (rt"t'l*snk`), n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of venomous American snakes belonging to the genera Crotalus and Caudisona, or Sistrurus. They have a series of horny interlocking joints at the end of the tail which make a sharp rattling sound when shaken. The common rattlesnake of the Northern United States (Crotalus horridus), and the diamond rattlesnake of the South (C. adamanteus), are the best known. See Illust. of Fang.

Ground rattlesnake (Zoöl.), a small rattlesnake (Caudisona, or Sistrurus, miliaria) of the Southern United States, having a small rattle. It has nine large scales on its head. -- Rattlesnake fern (Bot.), a common American fern (Botrychium Virginianum) having a triangular decompound frond and a long- stalked panicle of spore cases rising from the middle of the frond. -- Rattlesnake grass (Bot.), a handsome American grass (Glyceria Canadensis) with an ample panicle of rather large ovate spikelets, each one composed of imbricated parts and slightly resembling the rattle of the rattlesnake. Sometimes called quaking grass. -- Rattlesnake plantain. (Bot.) See under Plantain. -- Rattlesnake root (Bot.), a name given to certain American species of the composite genus Prenanthes (P. alba and P. serpentaria), formerly asserted to cure the bite of the rattlesnake. Called also lion's foot, gall of the earth, and white lettuce. -- Rattlesnake's master. (Bot.) (a) A species of Agave (Agave Virginica) growing in the Southern United States. (b) An umbelliferous plant (Eryngium yuccæfolium) with large bristly-fringed linear leaves. (c) A composite plant, the blazing star (Liatris squarrosa). -- Rattlesnake weed (Bot.), a plant of the composite genus Hieracium (H. venosum); -- probably so named from its spotted leaves. See also Snakeroot.

Rat"tle*trap` (-trp`), n. Any machine or vehicle that does not run smoothly. [Colloq.] A. Trollope.

Rat"tle*weed` (-wd`), n. (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Astragalus. See Milk vetch.

Rat"tle*wings` (-wngz`), n. (Zoöl.) The golden-eye.

Rat"tle*wort` (-wûrt`), n. [AS. hrætelwyrt.] (Bot.) Same as Rattlebox.

Rat"tlings (rt"tlngz), n. pl. (Naut.) Ratlines.

Rat*toon" (rt*tn"), n. [Sp. retoño.] One of the stems or shoots of sugar cane of the second year's growth from the root, or later. See Plant-cane.

Rat*toon", v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rattooned (-tnd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Rattooning.] [Cf. Sp. retoñar.] To sprout or spring up from the root, as sugar cane from the root of the previous year's planting.

Rau"cid (r"sd), a. [L. raucus hoarse; cf. LL. raucidus.] Hoarse; raucous. [R.] Lamb.

Rau"ci*ty (r"s*t), n. [L. raucitas, from raucus hoarse: cf. F. raucité.] Harshness of sound; rough utterance; hoarseness; as, the raucity of a trumpet, or of the human voice.

Rau"cous (r"ks), a. [L. raucus.] Hoarse; harsh; rough; as, a raucous, thick tone. "His voice slightly raucous." Aytoun. -- Rau"cous*ly, adv.

Raught (rt), obs. imp. & p. p. of Reach. Shak.

Raught, obs. imp. & p. p. of Reck. Chaucer.

Raunch (rnch), v. t. See Ranch. Spenser.

Raun*soun" (rn*sn"), n. Ransom. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Rav"age (rv"j; 48), n. [F., fr. (assumed) L. rapagium, rapaticum, fr. rapere to carry off by force, to ravish. See Rapacious, Ravish.] Desolation by violence; violent ruin or destruction; devastation; havoc; waste; as, the ravage of a lion; the ravages of fire or tempest; the ravages of an army, or of time.

Would one think 't were possible for love To make such ravage in a noble soul?

Addison.

Syn. -- Despoilment; devastation; desolation; pillage; plunder; spoil; waste; ruin.

Rav"age, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ravaged (-jd); p. pr. & vb. n. Ravaging (-*jng).] [F. ravager. See Ravage, n.] To lay waste by force; to desolate by violence; to commit havoc or devastation upon; to spoil; to plunder; to consume.

Already Cæsar Has ravaged more than half the globe.

Addison.

His lands were daily ravaged, his cattle driven away.

Macaulay.

Syn. -- To despoil; pillage; plunder; sack; spoil; devastate; desolate; destroy; waste; ruin.

Rav"a*ger (-*jr), n. One who, or that which, ravages or lays waste; spoiler.

Rave (rv), obs. imp. of Rive.

Rave, n. [Prov. E. raves, or rathes, a frame laid on a wagon, for carrying hay, etc.] One of the upper side pieces of the frame of a wagon body or a sleigh.

Rave (rv), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Raved (rvd); p. pr. & vb. n. Raving.] [F. rêver to rave, to be delirious, to dream; perhaps fr. L. rabere to rave, rage, be mad or furious. Cf. Rage, Reverie.] 1. To wander in mind or intellect; to be delirious; to talk or act irrationally; to be wild, furious, or raging, as a madman.

In our madness evermore we rave.

Chaucer.

Have I not cause to rave and beat my breast?

Addison.

The mingled torrent of redcoats and tartans went raving down the valley to the gorge of Killiecrankie.

Macaulay.

2. To rush wildly or furiously. Spenser.

3. To talk with unreasonable enthusiasm or excessive passion or excitement; -- followed by about, of, or on; as, he raved about her beauty.

The hallowed scene Which others rave of, though they know it not.

Byron.

Rave, v. t. To utter in madness or frenzy; to say wildly; as, to rave nonsense. Young.

Rave"hook (rv"hk), n. (Shipbuilding) A tool, hooked at the end, for enlarging or clearing seams for the reception of oakum.

Rav"el (rv"'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raveled (-'ld) or Ravelled; p. pr. & vb. n. Raveling or Ravelling.] [OD. ravelen, D. rafelen, akin to LG. rebeln, rebbeln, reffeln.] 1. To separate or undo the texture of; to take apart; to untwist; to unweave or unknit; -- often followed by out; as, to ravel a twist; to ravel out a stocking.

Sleep, that knits up the raveled sleave of care.

Shak.

2. To undo the intricacies of; to disentangle.

3. To pull apart, as the threads of a texture, and let them fall into a tangled mass; hence, to entangle; to make intricate; to involve.

What glory 's due to him that could divide Such raveled interests? has the knot untied?

Waller.

The faith of very many men seems a duty so weak and indifferent, is so often untwisted by violence, or raveled and entangled in weak discourses!

Jer. Taylor.

Rav"el, v. i. 1. To become untwisted or unwoven; to be disentangled; to be relieved of intricacy.