the.com/rattle
nature's warning label, played on a snake's own discarded skin.
means To make a quick series of short, sharp knocking sounds, or to shake something so it does so — and, figuratively, to unsettle or fluster someone.
from Rattle comes from Middle English ratelen, an echoic word — its sound is its meaning, the clatter built right into the syllable. It's part of a family of imitative words across the Germanic languages (Dutch ratelen, German rasseln are close cousins), all of them simply mimicking the noise of things knocking rapidly together. The snake's rattle and the baby's rattle both take their name from the racket they make; the sense of 'rattle someone' — to throw them off balance — is a later figurative leap from the unnerving chatter of the thing.
- hollow segments
- made of keratin, like your fingernails, never bones
- new beads
- a segment added with every shed skin
- silent speed
- shakes up to 90 times per second
- baby snakes
- are born with no rattle, only a button
- can't count
- rattle segments don't reveal a snake's age
rattlesnake — venomous snake with segmented tail rattle found across americas, ~32 species
baby rattle toy — infant toy with small pellets inside, used for stimulation since ancient times
maraca — percussion instrument with handle and chamber of beads, originated in latin america