▪ I. brattle, n. Chiefly Sc.
(ˈbræt(ə)l)
Also 6 brattill, brattyll.
[This and its verb are onomatopœic, prob. with association of break, brast and rattle; cf. also brabble, brastle.]
1. A smart rattling sound, esp. of something breaking or bursting.
| c 1505 Dunbar Turnament 73 His harnass brak and maid ane brattill. 1513 Douglas æneis ix. xi. 96 The hydduus scheild abufe him mayd a brattyll. 1839 W. Carleton Fardorougha (ed. 2) 81 There comes an accidental brattle of thunder. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi xxi. 426 [Each] striving which can produce the loudest brattle while turning. 1870 Daily News 3 Sept. 5 The brattle of a drum under my window. |
2. The sound or onset of sharp rattling blows.
| a 1600 Montgomerie Poems (1821) 75 Ȝe dou not byde a brattill. 1786 Burns Winter Nt. iii, Or silly sheep, wha bide this brattle O' winter war. |
3. The sound of scampering feet; a resounding scamper, rush, or spurt.
| a 1758 Ramsay Poems (1844) 79 Bauld Bess flew till him wi a brattle. 1785 Burns To a Mouse i, Thou need na start awa..Wi' bickerin brattle. 1828 J. Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXIV. 294 A breast-brushing brattle down the brae. |
▪ II. brattle, v. Chiefly Sc.
(ˈbræt(ə)l)
[See prec.]
1. intr. To produce a forcible rattling noise.
| 1513 Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 133 Branchis brattlyng, and blayknit schew the brays. a 1849 J. C. Mangan Poems (1859) 51 Harsh engines brattled night and day. |
b. with cognate object.
| 1852 D. Moir Winter Wild vii, His iron heels..Brattling afar their under-song. |
2. To rush with rattling noise, as a mountain brook over a stony bed; to bicker. Orig. Sc.
| 1834 H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xxxi. (1857) 457 A mossy streamlet comes brattling from the hill. 1853 G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 18 Many little livelier runlets that brattle down the green hills on each side. 1882 Macm. Mag. Oct. 472 The becks that brattle through the brake. |
3. To run with brattling feet; to scamper. Sc.
| 1725 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. i. ii, Our twa herds come brattling down the brae. 1826 Blackw. Mag. XIX. 382 Brattle not away so, ye foolish lambs. |