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clatter

verb
/ˈklætəː/UK/ˈklæɾɚ/US

Etymology

From Middle English clatren (“to make a rattling sound”), from Old English *clatrian (attested as the Late Old English gerund clatrung), of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Dutch klateren, kletteren. The noun, derived from the verb, is first attested in the 14ᵗʰ century.

  1. inherited from *clatrian✻
  2. inherited from clatren — “to make a rattling sound”

Definitions

  1. To make a rattling sound.

    • When all the bees are gone to settle, / You clatter still your brazen kettle.
    • Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard, / And he tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred; […]

  2. To chatter noisily or rapidly.

    • But if that I knewe what his name hight, / For clatering of me I would him ſone quight; / For his falſe lying, of that I ſpake never, / I could make him ſhortly repent him forever: […]
    • Here is a great deale of good matter, / loſt for lacke of telling, / Now ſicker I see, thou doeſt but clatter: / harme may come of melling.

  3. To hit

    To hit; to smack.

    • "I can't watch it because I have to go outside and clatter someone in the nuts!”
    • “An Orange bitch clattered seven shades of shite out of her,” Padraig eagerly piped up.
  4. ›+ 5 more definitions

    1. A rattling noise

      A rattling noise; a repetition of abrupt, sharp sounds.

      • The patter of feet, and clatter of strap and swivel, seemed to swell into a bewildering din, but they were almost upon the fielato offices, where the carretera entered the town, before a rifle flashed.
      • There was something distinctly low-key, even wilfully alienating about the band’s performance. A scattering of OK Computer tracks were interspersed with more abstract latterday material – the clatter of 15 Step and Myxamatosis.
      • ... disintegrated Incredibly , pitched your clattering pieces to the bottom stair Of intellect , insisting that you start Again . Or proud - flesh , clotted mental pores , might claim Authentic miracle only to decry it . Campanulas .

    2. A loud disturbance.

    3. Noisy talk or chatter.

    4. A large group, especially of sibling children

      A large group, especially of sibling children; a lot

      • a young mother with a clatter of kids told me ... her Catholic doctor refused point-blank to advise other than the rhythm method.
      • There haven't been any men for years. The last one I can remember was a hairy old ballad singer who, it turned out, had a wife and a clatter of kids.
      • There are a clatter of other PRSI classes. E is for Church of Ireland ministers only. H relates to enlisted military personnel and non-commissioned officers.

    5. Alternative form of clitter

      Alternative form of clitter; scree.

The neighborhood

Derived

aclatter, clatterer, clattering, clatteringly, clattersome, clattery

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for clatter. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA