Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that rattles: a rattler of pots and pans.
- n. A rattlesnake.
- n. Informal A freight train.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who rattles, or talks away without reflection or consideration; a giddy, noisy person.
- n. Anything which causes a person to become rattled, as a smart or stunning blow.
- n. A rattlesnake.
- n. A big or bold lie.
- n. Among cutlers, a special form of razor with a very thin blade, the faces of which are ground to an angle of fifteen degrees.
- n. A tumbling-box used to test the cohesive strength of bricks. A number of bricks are placed with a quantity of cast-iron balls in the box and the box is revolved at a fixed speed. The amount of wear shown by the bricks is a test of their power to resist abrasion: essentially a ball-mill. See ball-grinder and tumbling-box.
- n. Something that is very good of its kind, as a horse.
- n. A hard, brittle coal, like jet, which generally lies on top of seams.
Wiktionary
- n. A rattlesnake.
- n. A freight train or, (chiefly UK), a decrepit passenger train.
- n. Something which rattles.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who, or that which, rattles.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a railroad train consisting of freight cars
- n. pit viper with horny segments at the end of the tail that rattle when shaken
Etymologies
- rattle + -er (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Although some controllers like such schedules because they effectively give workers a three-day weekend, controllers say they are known as the "rattler" because of the way they disturb normal sleep patterns.”
“Actually, if you live in rattler or other snake country, many experienced dog trainers provide classes for dogs that specifically train them to stay away from snakes.”
How can I teach my bird dog to avoid rattlers and other snakes.
“Unless a rattler is right where I'm living or working, I'll let it go.”
“They also make cobra-skin, alligator-skin, and lizard-skin grips, but the rattler is by far the most fascinating.”
“But the shift is known as the "rattler" because controllers say it doubles back and bites those who work it.”
“Suddenly, I am jolted back to reality by the fact the rattler is now along side my kayak and is lifting it’s head out of the water in an apparent attempt to come aboard.”
“One common schedule linked to fatigue by the FAA studies is widely known as the "rattler" because it can be so jarring to the system.”
USA Today: FAA changing air controllers' schedules after another falls asleep
“The rattler is the overnight shift at the end of a week of two evening shifts, followed by two day shifts.”
The Wall Street Journal: Summer Travel, as Seen From the Airport Control Tower
“The rattler is a western diamondback, not an eastern diamondback.”
“The round, deep reddish brown dried chiles called cascabel (because the seeds are loose and sound like a rattlesnake's "rattler") are mild but very tasty.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘rattler’.
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Rats
rats, rat, tree-rat, pilori-rat, prorate, pro rata, Ratso Rizzo, ratfink, rat pack, Rat Pack, Rats!, rat race and 157 more...
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dickcherry's drivel
the words i'm thinking with
doing, boing, going, tincture, pingback, womenswear, jounce, wrack, a, ish, beeswax, thither and 97 more...
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Ships
All of which are mentioned in O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, someplace or other. Most are British navy ships, some are French navy, and others aren't either one.
See also the list Sh...franklin, surprise, agamemnon, vanguard, truelove, minerva, diane, victory, sophie, cacafuego, euryalus, alastor and 382 more...
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animals
cow, cat, spider, scorpion, snake, rattler, bird, deer, moose, bull, steer, calf and 1 more...
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at the zoo
platypus, reindeer, ermine, penguin, grouse, vulture, boa, mouse, moose, snake, rattler, bat and 63 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for rattler.
bilby Died out in Melbourne. The trains were in fact a rusty colour so that's where the red came from. They were replaced by a generation of blue trains that, because the aircon always seemed to break down, were called blue boilers. Aug 8, 2011
yarb Term apparently still in use in the Black Country, bilby, judging from the tweet by @seanoliver86. Aug 8, 2011
bilby Urban trains were known as red rattlers when I was growing up in Melbourne. Term has died out. Aug 8, 2011
ruzuzu I love these definitions from the Cent. Dict.:
"6. A tumbling-box used to test the cohesive strength of bricks. A number of bricks are placed with a quantity of cast-iron balls in the box and the box is revolved at a fixed speed. The amount of wear shown by the bricks is a test of their power to resist abrasion: essentially a ball-mill. See ball-grinder and tumbling-box.
7. Something that is very good of its kind, as a horse."
Aug 8, 2011