ˈrattletrap, n. and a.
[f. rattle n.1 or v.1 + trap n.]
A. n.
1. pl. Nick-nacks, trifles, odds and ends, curiosities, small or worthless articles. Also sing. of a single article of this kind.
| 1766 Goody Two-Shoes ii. (1881) 27 She used to go round to teach the Children with these Rattle-traps in a Basket. 1785 in Grose Dict. Vulgar Tongue. 1820 Scott Abbot xix, Your other rattle-trap yonder at Avenel, which Mistress Lilias bears about on her shoes in the guise of a pair of shoe-buckles. 1878 M. C. Jackson Chaperon's Cares II. xi. 136 Rattletraps for the mantelpiece, gimcracks for the table. |
2. A rattling, rickety coach or other vehicle.
| 1822 C'tess Blessington Magic Lantern 22 The shabby rattle-trap is filled by a group that would require the pencil of Hogarth to paint. 1861 F. F. Tuckett in Peaks, Passes & Glac. Ser. ii. I. 304 At length..we tore ourselves away, and at eight entered our nondescript rattletrap. |
3. Any rickety or shaky thing.
| 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xviii, A rickety rattletrap of a wooden ladder. 1857 Trollope Barchester T. xxxv, He'd destroy himself and me too, if I attempted to ride him at such a rattle-trap as that. 1883 Harper's Mag. 884/1 The steamer was an old rattletrap. |
4. slang. a. The mouth.
| 1824 Scott Redgauntlet ch. xv, Shut your rattle-trap. 1886–7 in Cheshire glossaries. |
b. = rattle n.1 7.
| 1880 Life in Debtor's Prison x, I see you're as great a rattletrap as ever. |
B. adj. Rickety, shaky.
| 1834 Sir F. B. Head Bubbles of Brunnen 115, I ascended an old rattle-trap staircase. 1892 Annie Richie Rec. Tennyson, etc. iii. ix. 225 We started almost the next day in a rattle-trap chaise. |