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Tinkle vs Rattle - What's the difference?

tinkle | rattle |

In lang=en terms the difference between tinkle and rattle

is that tinkle is to indicate, signal, etc by tinkling while rattle is to make a rattling noise; to make noise by or from shaking.

As verbs the difference between tinkle and rattle

is that tinkle is to make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell while rattle is (ergative) to create a rattling sound by shaking or striking.

As nouns the difference between tinkle and rattle

is that tinkle is a light metallic sound, resembling the tinkling of bells or wind chimes while rattle is (onomatopoeia) a sound made by loose objects shaking or vibrating against one another.

tinkle

English

Verb

(tinkl)
  • To make light metallic sounds, rather like a very small bell.
  • The glasses tinkled together as they were placed on the table.
  • * Dodsley
  • The sprightly horse / Moves to the music of his tinkling bells.
  • (intransitive, informal, juvenile) To urinate.
  • To cause to tinkle.
  • To indicate, signal, etc. by tinkling.
  • The butler tinkled dinner.
  • To hear, or resound with, a small, sharp sound.
  • * Dryden
  • And his ears tinkled , and the colour fled.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A light metallic sound, resembling the tinkling of bells or wind chimes.
  • * 1994 , (Stephen Fry), (The Hippopotamus) , ch. 2:
  • At the very moment he cried out, David realised that what he had run into was only the Christmas tree. . . . There were no sounds of any movement upstairs: no shouts, no sleepy grumbles, only a gentle tinkle from the decorations as the tree had recovered from the collision.
  • (UK, informal) A telephone call.
  • Give me a tinkle when you arrive.
  • (informal, euphemism) An act of urination.
  • 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