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Rattle vs Alarm - What's the difference?

rattle | alarm |

As nouns the difference between rattle and alarm

is that rattle is (onomatopoeia) a sound made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another while alarm is alert, alarm.

As a verb rattle

is (ergative) to create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.

rattle

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (onomatopoeia) a sound made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.
    • I wish they would fix the rattle under my dashboard.
  • * Prior
    • The rattle of a drum.
  • A baby's toy designed to make sound when shaken, usually containing loose grains or pellets in a hollow container.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Pleased with a rattle , tickled with a straw.
  • A device that makes a rattling sound such as put on an animal so its location can be heard.
  • A musical instrument that makes a rattling sound.
  • * Sir Walter Raleigh
    • The rattles of Isis and the cymbals of Brasilea nearly enough resemble each other.
  • (dated) Noisy, rapid talk.
  • * Hakewill
    • All this ado about the golden age is but an empty rattle and frivolous conceit.
  • (dated) A noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
  • * Macaulay
    • 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 .
  • A scolding; a sharp rebuke.
    • (Heylin)
  • (zoology) Any organ of an animal having a structure adapted to produce a rattling sound.
    • The rattle of the rattlesnake is composed of the hardened terminal scales, loosened in succession, but not cast off, and modified in form so as to make a series of loose, hollow joints.
  • The noise in the throat produced by the air in passing through mucus which the lungs are unable to expel; death rattle.

    • Derived terms

    * rattlesnake * spring a rattle * yellow rattle (plant)

    Verb

    (rattl)
  • (ergative) To create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.
    • to rattle a chain
    Rattle the can of cat treats if you need to find Fluffy.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=February 5 , author=Michael Kevin Darling , title=Tottenham 2 - 1 Bolton , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=It was a deflating end to the drama for the hosts and they appeared ruffled, with Bolton going close to a leveller when Johan Elmander rattled the bar with a header from Matt Taylor's cross.}}
  • (informal) To scare, startle, unsettle, or unnerve.
  • *
    • "Tut!" said old Bittlesham. "Tut is right," I agreed. Then the rumminess of the thing struck me. "But if you haven't dropped a parcel over the race," I said, "why are you looking so rattled ?"
  • * 2014 , Richard Rae, " Manchester United humbled by MK Dons after Will Grigg hits double", The Guardian , 26 August 2014:
    • That United were rattled , mentally as well as at times physically – legitimately so – was beyond question. Nick Powell clipped a crisp drive a foot over the bar, but otherwise Milton Keynes had the best of the remainder of the first half.
  • To make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.
    • ''I wish the dashboard in my car would quit rattling .
  • (obsolete) To assail, annoy, or stun with a ratting noise.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Sound but another [drum], and another shall / As loud as thine rattle the welkin's ear.
  • (obsolete) To scold; to rail at.
    • (rfquotek, L'Estrange)
  • To drive or ride briskly, so as to make a clattering.
    • We rattled along for a couple of miles.
  • To make a clatter with a voice; to talk rapidly and idly; with on'' or ''away .
    • She rattled on for an hour.

    Derived terms

    * death rattle * rattler * rattlesnake * rattle off * rattle one's nerves * rattle one's hocks * rattle someone's cage * rattle trap * sabre-rattling

    See also

    * jingle

    Anagrams

    * English ergative verbs

    alarm

    English

    Alternative forms

    * alarum

    Noun

  • A summons to arms, as on the approach of an enemy.
    • ''Arming to answer in a night alarm . --Shakespeare.
  • Any sound or information intended to give notice of approaching danger; a warning sound to arouse attention; a warning of danger.
    • ''Sound an alarm in my holy mountain. --Joel ii. 1.
  • A sudden attack; disturbance.
  • * Shakespeare
    • these home alarms
  • * Alexander Pope
    • thy palace fill with insults and alarms
  • Sudden surprise with fear or terror excited by apprehension of danger; in the military use, commonly, sudden apprehension of being attacked by surprise.
    • ''Alarm and resentment spread throughout the camp. --.
  • A mechanical device for awaking people, or rousing their attention.
    • ''The clockradio is a friendlier version of the cold alarm by the bedside
  • An instance of an alarum ringing or clanging, to give a noise signal at a certain time.
    • ''You should set the alarm on your watch to go off at seven o'clock.

    Related terms

    * alarm bell * alarm clock * alarm reaction * fire alarm * raise the alarm

    See also

    * tocsin

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To call to arms for defense
  • To give (someone) notice of approaching danger
  • To rouse to vigilance and action; to put on the alert.
  • To surprise with apprehension of danger; to fill with anxiety in regard to threatening evil; to excite with sudden fear.
  • To keep in excitement; to disturb.

    • Related terms

    * alarming * alarmist

    References

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----