Search the Dictionary

Noisy; giddy; unsteady.

Rattle-headed. "A noisy, rattle-pated fellow." W. Irving.

A toy that makes a rattle sound; a rattle.

An empty, noisy talker.

A bat. [Obs.] Puttenham.

A rattlehead. C. Kingsley.

One who, or that which, rattles.

They have a series of horny interlocking joints at the end of the tail which make a sharp ratting 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…

Any machine or vehicle that does not run smoothly. [Colloq.] A. Trollope.

Any plant of the genus Astragalus. See Milk vetch.

The golden-eye.

Same as Rattlebox.

Ratlines.

One of the stems or shoots of sugar cane of the second year's growth from the root, or later. See Plant-cane.

To go astray; to diverge. [R.] Their own defective and aberrating vision. De Quincey.

specially from truth or moral rectitude, from the natural state, or from a type. "The aberration of youth." Hall. "Aberrations from theory." Burke.

Characterized by aberration.

The act of abjuring or forswearing; a renunciation upon oath; as, abjuration of the realm, a sworn banishment, an oath taken to leave the country and never to return.

Containing abjuration.

To quicken the natural or ordinary progression or process of; as, to accelerate the growth of a plant, the increase of wealth, etc.