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  1. patter love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. v. To make a quick succession of light soft tapping sounds: Rain pattered steadily against the glass.
  2. v. To move with quick, light, softly audible steps.
  3. v. To cause to patter.
  4. n. A quick succession of light soft tapping sounds: the patter of rain on the rooftops.
  5. v. To speak or chatter glibly and rapidly.
  6. v. To mumble prayers in a mechanical manner.
  7. v. To utter in a glib, rapid, or mechanical manner.
  8. n. The jargon of a particular group; cant.
  9. n. Glib rapid speech, as of an auctioneer, salesperson, or comedian.
  10. n. Meaningless talk; chatter.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. To make a quick succession of small sounds by striking against the ground or any object: as, the pattering of raindrops on a roof.
  2. To move with quick steps, making a succession of small sounds; hence, to make a succession of small sounds resembling those of short quick steps or of falling rain or hailstones.
  3. To cause to strike or beat in drops; spatter.
  4. n. A quick succession of small sounds: as, the patter of rain or hail; the patter of little feet.
  5. To repeat the Lord's Prayer; hence, generally, to pray.
  6. To talk; especially, to talk glibly or rapidly, as a cheap John in disposing of his wares.
  7. To repeat something again and again in a rapid or mumbling way; mumble; mutter.
  8. To repeat rapidly or often, especially in a hurried, mumbling way; repeat hurriedly and monotonously; mumble; mutter: as, to patter prayers.
  9. n. Talk, especially glib or fluent talk; the oratory of a cheap John in disposing of his wares.
  10. n. Gossip; chatter.
  11. n. The dialect or patois of a class; slang; cant: as, gipsies’ patter; thieves’ patter.
  12. To eat.
  13. n. Rapid phrases introduced into a song in a speaking voice: sometimes applied to the whole text of a comedy.

Wiktionary

  1. n. One who pats.
  2. n. Glib and rapid speech, such as from an auctioneer, or banter during a sports event.
  3. v. To speak in such a way – glibly and rapidly, such as from an auctioneer, or when bantering during a sports event.
  4. n. The soft sound of feet walking on a hard surface.
  5. v. To make irregularly repeated sounds of low-to-moderate magnitude and lower-than-average pitch.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. v. To strike with a quick succession of slight, sharp sounds
  2. v. To mutter; to mumble.
  3. v. colloq. To talk glibly; to chatter; to harangue.
  4. v. rare To spatter; to sprinkle.
  5. v. To mutter; as prayers.
  6. n. A quick succession of slight sounds
  7. n. Glib and rapid speech; a voluble harangue.
  8. n. The cant of a class; patois.
  9. n. Cant or Colloq. The language or oratory of a street peddler, conjurer, or the like, hence, glib talk; a voluble harangue; mere talk; chatter; also, specif., rapid speech, esp. as sometimes introduced in songs.

WordNet 3.0

  1. v. rain gently
  2. v. make light, rapid and repeated sounds
  3. n. a quick succession of light rapid sounds
  4. n. plausible glib talk (especially useful to a salesperson)

Etymologies

  1. 1610s, pat +‎ -er (“frequentative (indicating repeated action)”), of (onomatopoeia) origin. (Wiktionary)
  2. Frequentative of pat1.Middle English pateren, shortening and alteration of paternoster, paternoster (from the mechanical and rapid recitation of the prayer); see paternoster. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “The only similar patter is the Roaring 20′s, but on a much smaller scale.”

    Irrational Exhuberance and the Animal Spirits : Law is Cool

  • “I can't imagine a Spielberg film ending with a young boy watching a senator speak on TV and turning away because his patter is utterly irrelevant and probably full of lies.”

    GreenCine Daily: Interview. Bong Joon-ho.

  • “Personally, I see no break from the longer term patter established beginning last April, although I very much want to see declines from 480,000 in the next couple of weeks.”

    The Bonddad Blog

  • “And for the first time, I actually listen to the patter from the little guys fighting and dying on our screen; We're fucking dying over here!”

    Naughty words...

  • “In the first of his four nights at the Metropolitan, it was impossible to miss the polarized extremes of his presentation: In his onstage patter, which is a wry parody of the pretentious things that performers say and critics write, he is slyly understated and as dry as six martinis.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Swinging Into New Styles

  • “At first, she thought it was simply his natural, outward-looking character, but when he time and again slid around her carefully posed questions, when she caught a flicker of his lashes, and a sharp, far-from-innocent glance, she realized his patter was a shield of sorts — a defense he deployed, all but instinctively, against women who wanted to get to know him.”

    The Perfect Lover

  • “What our great ballad-writers call the patter of tiny feet is stilled.”

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 147, August 12, 1914

  • “The patter was an integral part of the show, and clearly road-tested: She knew she'd get a laugh when she said the songs on "Interpretations" were written by young Britons "who were high" and had to be revamped for "a 65-year-old black woman who was drunk.”

    The Washington Post: National, World & D.C. Area News and Headlines - The Washington Post

  • “It makes my heart patter, like that" -- she made her little fingers "patter" - "to be wooed even by a Yankee.”

    The Ne'er-Do-Well

  • “The sales people I work with are learning how to listen more, to cut out the 'patter' and build relationships.”

    The Huffington Post: James M. Lynch: Your Very Own 'Once Upon a Time'

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‘patter’ has been looked up 2292 times, added to 22 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 8.