Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
rattling. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
rattling, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
rattling in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
rattling you have here. The definition of the word
rattling will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
rattling, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology 1
Adjective
rattling (comparative more rattling, superlative most rattling)
- Lively, quick (speech, pace).
- (dated, intensifier) good, fine.
a rattling good lunch
1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:“ […] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […] ”
1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:To say the truth, Sophia, when very young, discerned that Tom, though an idle, thoughtless, rattling rascal, was nobody's enemy but his own […]
1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “The Dead”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC:I'd like nothing better this minute, said Mr Browne stoutly, than a rattling fine walk in the country or a fast drive with a good spanking goer between the shafts.
Verb
rattling
- present participle and gerund of rattle
Noun
rattling (plural rattlings)
- rattle (a sound made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another)
Translations
a sound made by loose object shaking against one another
Etymology 2
Noun
rattling (plural rattlings)
- (nautical) Alternative form of ratline