rattle: [14] Rattle probably existed in Old English, but in the absence of any direct evidence, it is usually suggested that the word was borrowed from Middle Low German rattelen, a relative of German rasseln ‘rattle’. Whatever its ultimate source, it no doubt originally imitated the sound of rattling.
rattle (v.)
c. 1300 (intransitive), "To make a quick sharp noise with frequent repetitions and collisions of bodies not very sonorous: when bodies are sonorous, it is called jingling" [Johnson]. Perhaps in Old English but not recorded; if not, from Middle Dutch ratelen, probably of imitative origin (compare German rasseln "to rattle," Greek kradao "I rattle"). Sense of "utter smartly and rapidly" is late 14c. Meaning "to go along loosely and noisily" is from 1550s. Transitive sense is late 14c.; figurative sense of "fluster" is first recorded 1869. Related: Rattled; rattling.
rattle (n.)
c. 1500, "rapid succession of short, sharp sounds," from rattle (v.). As a child's toy, recorded from 1510s. As a sound made in the throat (especially of one near death) from 1752.
雙語(yǔ)例句
1. The baby, dressed in a flowery jumpsuit, waved her rattle.
寶寶穿著印花的連身衣，揮動(dòng)著她手中的撥浪鼓。
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
2. His rhetoric sounds like the death rattle of a fading leadership.