ˈrattle-brain
[f. rattle n.1 or v.1]
1. An empty-headed noisy fellow.
| 1709 Rumbling Fuddle-Caps 8 Beholding the Rattle⁓brains, marry thought I, I have heard of a Puppy put into a Pye. 1823 De Quincey King of Hayti Wks. 1859 XII. 46 He had taken down the conceit of the young rattle⁓brain. 1850 Emerson Repr. Men, Shaks. Wks. (Bohn) I. 352 A poet is no rattlebrain, saying what comes uppermost. |
2. Headlong noisy behaviour.
| 1838 Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1883) 195 There is much exaggeration and rattle-brain about this fellow. |
So ˈrattle-brained a., characterized by foolish noisy levity of character or conduct.
| 1716 Addison Freeholder No. 9 ¶10 A story..concerning a rattle-brained young fellow. 1866 J. Timbs Club Life II. 172 The Golden Fleece Club, a rattle-brained society. |