▪ I. clatter, n.1
(ˈklætə(r))
[In 15th c. clater, but possibly coeval with the verb of same form. MDu. has clātere, Du. klater, a rattle, and klateren to clatter, rattle, chatter. Sense 2 appears earliest in our quots., and ought perhaps to stand first.
The OE. clædur, cledr, cleadur (Epinal 218, etc.) ‘tabula qua a segitibus territantur aves’ appears to be connected, but is not phonetically identical.]
1. A rattling noise made by the rapidly repeated collision of sonorous bodies which do not ring. ‘A clatter is a clash often repeated with great quickness, and seems to convey the idea of a sound sharper and shriller than a rattle’ (J.).
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. lxxi. 750 Their [aspen leaves'] continual shaking, and noysome clatter. 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. vii. 21 By this great clatter, one of greatest note Seemes bruited. 1683 Temple Mem. Wks. 1731 I. 419 My Horses were so unruly with that Noise, and the Clatter of the Planks, that, etc. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 8. ¶9 The clatter of empty pots. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xliv, The clatter of horses' hoofs was heard. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia xi. 126 The clatter of their hoes among the pebbles. |
2. Noisy talk; confused din of voices, gabble. Often applied contemptuously to what is treated as mere empty gabble.
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. 190 (Mätzn.) As good that thou had Halden stille thy clater. Ibid. 257 Hold stille thy clattur. a 1638 Mede Wks. Gen. Pref., To make an astonishing clatter with many words of a strange sound and of an unknown sense. 1813 Edin. Rev. XXI. 70 The people..have in their pronunciation a small degree of the clatter. 1829 Lytton Disowned 7 The conversation changed into one universal clatter. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg. v. Foot of Alps, Such a clatter of tongues in empty heads. |
b. Gossip, chatter, idle talk, tittle-tattle. Often in pl. Chiefly Sc.
| 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. (1885) 68 Latting pas thir fables, and a hundir sik clatteris. a 1662 Baillie Lett. I. 216 (Jam.) We take it, and many things more you will hear, for clatters. 1790 Burns Tam o' Shanter 45 The night drave on wi' sangs an' clatter. 1843 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 255 Oh, what nonsense clatter I do write to thee! |
3. Comb. clatter-bone, -bane, Sc. a. a bone humorously supposed to move when one chatters or prates; b. in pl. ‘two pieces of bone or slate held between the fingers, which produce a clattering noise, similar to that from castanets’. (Jam.)
| 1721 Kelly Sc. Prov. 387 (Jam.). 1823 Galt Entail I. xx. 166. |
▪ II. clatter, n.2 dial.
[cf. clatter v. 1 b.]
A mass of loose boulders or shattered stones; so called on Dartmoor.
| 1865 Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 396 Rooting out a crown of the hay-scented fern from the foot of the ‘clatter,’ as a mass of granite so situated is provincially termed. 1873 Quart. Rev. CXXXV. 142 Spires and clatters of grey rock—as the long streams of shattered stone are locally called. 1882 Pall Mall G. 28 July 4/1 Under shelter of the biggest rocks in the whole clatter..the word is good moorland English for a mass of loose, weathered boulders on the sky-line summit of a saddle-back ridge. |
▪ III. clatter, n.3
[f. clat n.1 + -er.]
(See quot.)
| 1829 J. L. Knapp Jrnl. Naturalist 49 The droppings of the cows were collected [for fuel]..beaten into a mass with water; then pressed by the feet into moulds..by regular professional persons, called clatters (clodders). |
▪ IV. clatter, v.
(ˈklætə(r))
Forms: 3–6 clater, 5 clatere, clatre, clathyr, 6 clattyr, clattre, 5– clatter.
[OE. clatrian (in clatrunge), corresp. to MDu. and Du. klateren to rattle, clatter, babble, E.Fris. klatern, klattern, LG. klāteren, dial. Ger. klattern, klättern; of onomatopœic origin. In Ger. and Du. the word is synonymous with klapper(e)n, klepper(e)n. The order of senses is uncertain: cf. the n.]
1. intr. To make or emit a rapid succession of short sharp noises in striking a hard and dry body; to rattle. Said either of the material instruments or the agent.
| [c 1050 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 377/27 Crepacula, clatrunge.] |
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 731 Þer as claterande fro þe crest þe colde borne rennez. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1501 The arwes in the caas Of the goddesse clatren faste and rynge. c 1400 Destr. Troy 5787 Cloudis with the clamour claterit aboue. 1513 Douglas æneis ix. x. 161 [They] hard hys arrowis clatterand in hys cace. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. xiii. 274 They fall a-clattering with..drums and kettles. 1787 Burns Holy Fair xviii, There the pint-stoup clatters. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxii (1856) 279 [Masses] roll clattering down the slopes. 1878 H. S. Wilson Alp. Ascents i. 4 His heavy boots clatter upon the round pebbles. |
† b. intr. To go to pieces with such a noise; to be shattered; to fall into ruins. Obs.
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 2026 Hit bigon to claterin al & to cleouen. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 912 Sodomas schal..synk in-to grounde..& vche a koste of þis kyth clater vpon hepes. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1722 As alle þe clamberande clyffes hade clatered on hepes. |
c. To move rapidly with such a noise, to rattle along, down, over, etc.
| 1810 Scott Lady of L. i. iii, Clattered a hundred steeds along. 1842 T. Martin My Namesake in Fraser's Mag. Dec., Up clattered the omnibus. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. (1872) I. 57 Clattering over the pavements on wooden shoes. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. of Fleet ii. xix. (1883) 256 He came clattering down the street. |
2. trans. To cause to rattle; to strike or dash together with a clattering noise.
| 1537 Thersytes in Four O. Pl. (1848) 82 And clatteringe there youre pottes with ale. 1583 Stanyhurst Poems, æneis viii. (Arb.) 137 A clapping fyerbolt (such as..Ioue toe the ground clattreth). 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 161. ¶11 He sometimes stamped as in a rage..then clattered his chairs. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 445 The servants clatter the plates and glasses. 1862 Sala Seven Sons I. x. 252 [He] clattered his tea-cup. |
b. north. dial. To beat, thrash (a person).
| 1849 C. Brontë Shirley xxxii. 471 Whisht! is that Horsfall clattering him? I wonder he does not yell out. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., To clatter, to beat, to chastise. ‘I'll clatter thee.’ 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Clatter, to beat with the open hands. |
3. intr. To talk rapidly and noisily; to talk idly; to chatter, prattle, babble. In mod.Sc., to tattle, talk scandal.
| 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 60 Thou claterist meche of orderis of aungeles in heuen. c 1440 York Myst. xl. 11 Who comes þere claterand? a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 40 Of them that usen to clatre, speke, and iangle atte the masse. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. ccxxii 684 The people begyn to clater and to murmur therat. 1570 Levins Manip. 77/37 To clatter, prate, balbutire. 1641 Milton Ch. Discip. i. (1851) 21 Since hee must needs bee the Load-starre of Reformation as some men clatter. 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. §79. 105 Her husband..clatters hard against me and my Pills. 1727 De Foe Hist. Appar. xiv. 349 Those who clatter that Peter never was at Rome. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxiv, Ye may be sure it was clattered about in the kitchen. |
b. To chatter as a magpie.
| 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. (1873) 39 The tuechitis cryit theuis nek quhen the piettis clattrit. |
4. trans. To utter in a chattering way; blab, prate about. Obs. (or only as transf. from 1.)
| c 1325 Poem temp. Edw. II, 120 in Pol. Songs (Wr.) 329 He..Adihteth him a gay wenche..And there hii clateren cumpelin whan the candel is oute. 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 76 Counceil owith to be kept And not to be clatrid. c 1450 Merlin i. 12 The women clatered it aboute. 1526 W. Bonde Pilgr. Perf. (1531) 36 b, To clater forth his blynde prophecyes. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (1884) 108 That is y⊇ matter That poetts clatter. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 28 b, When you clatter out such matters. 1625 Gill Sacr. Philos. ii. 174 That which these heretikes clatter. 1735 Bp. Wilson in Keble Life xxvi. (1863) 875 Many of the clerks hurry over the responses, and Psalms and Hymns, as fast as ever they can clatter them over. |
5. The verb-stem is used advb. (cf. bang, etc.).
| 1884 G. Moore Mummer's Wife (1887) 152 Clatter, clatter, clatter, went the bell. |