4. To scold; to rail at. L'Estrange. To rattle off. (a) To tell glibly or noisily; as, to rattle off a story. (b) To rail at; to scold. "She would sometimes rattle off her servants sharply." Arbuthnot.
RATTLE
Rat"tle, n.
1. A rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the rattle of a drum. Prior.
2. Noisy, rapid talk. All this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit. Hakewill.
3. An instrument with which a ratting sound is made; especially, a child's toy that rattle when shaken. The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other. Sir W. Raleigh. Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw. Pope.
4. A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer. It may seem strange that a man who wrote with so much perspicuity, vivacity, and grace, should have been, whenever he took a part in conversation, an empty, noisy, blundering rattle. Macaulay.
5. A scolding; a sharp rebuke. [Obs.] Heylin.
6. (Zoöl.)
Defn: Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a ratting sound.
Note: The rattle of the rattlesnake is composed of the hardened terminal scales, loosened in succession, but not cast off, and so modified in form as to make a series of loose, hollow joints.