RATTLING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rattling mean? 

• RATTLING (noun)
  The noun RATTLING has 1 sense:

1. a rapid series of short loud sounds (as might be heard with a stethoscope in some types of respiratory disorders)

  Familiarity information: RATTLING used as a noun is very rare.

• RATTLING (adjective)
  The adjective RATTLING has 2 senses:

1. extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers

2. quick and energetic

  Familiarity information: RATTLING used as an adjective is rare.

• RATTLING (adverb)
  The adverb RATTLING has 1 sense:

1. used as intensifiers; 'real' is sometimes used informally for 'really'; 'rattling' is informal

  Familiarity information: RATTLING used as an adverb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RATTLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A rapid series of short loud sounds (as might be heard with a stethoscope in some types of respiratory disorders)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

rale; rattle; rattling

Context example:

the death rattle

Hypernyms ("rattling" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rattling"):

crepitation rale (the crackling sound heard on auscultation when patients with respiratory diseases inhale; associated with tuberculosis and pneumonia and congestive heart failure)

Derivation:

rattle (shake and cause to make a rattling noise)

rattle (make short successive sounds)

• RATTLING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers

Synonyms:

fantastic; grand; howling; marvellous; marvelous; rattling; terrific; tremendous; wonderful; wondrous

Context example:

a tremendous achievement

Similar:

extraordinary (beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Quick and energetic

Synonyms:

alert; brisk; lively; merry; rattling; snappy; spanking; zippy

Context example:

a spanking breeze

Similar:

energetic (possessing or exerting or displaying energy)

• RATTLING (adverb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Used as intensifiers; 'real' is sometimes used informally for 'really'; 'rattling' is informal

Synonyms:

rattling; real; really; very

Context example:

a rattling good yarn

 Context examples 

However, on this same day, Mars will directly and tightly oppose Uranus, rattling people around you—and possibly you, too.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

My aunt received this proposal so very ungraciously, that he never ventured on a second; but ever afterwards confined himself to looking watchfully at her for her suggestions, and rattling his money.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"Oz was not such a bad Wizard, after all," said the Tin Woodman, as he felt his heart rattling around in his breast.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

I could hear their feet rattling up our old stairs, so that the house must have shook with it.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

My wants were few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The bull snorted and leaped away, his hoofs rattling and clattering as he fled across the ledges.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Apparently it was to be a rattling sea story, a tale of twentieth-century adventure and romance, handling real characters, in a real world, under real conditions.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"Oh, I am so sick of the young men of the present day!" exclaimed she, rattling away at the instrument.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Ten minutes later we were both in a cab, and rattling through the silent streets on our way to Charing Cross Station.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Clew up the topsails first. Set men at all the sheets. Let there be no rattling of blocks, no sound of voices. No noise, understand, no noise.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)