Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to send away.

1624		Massinger Parliament of Love II i: leonora: Slaue, beate him back [...] servant: Madam I rattled him, Rattled him home. leonora: Rattle him hence you rascall Or never see me more.
a.1625		Beaumont & Fletcher Love’s Cure III iii: He was here [...] but I ratled him; I told him here was no Companions For such debauch’d, and poor-condition’d Fellows.

2. to unnerve, to frighten; thus rattling adj.; also vtr. to lose one’s nerve, composure.

1633		Cottington To Strafford in Hallam Const. Hist. II, 89: The king hath so rattled my lord-keeper that he is the most pliable man in England [F&H].
1669		Pepys Diary 25 Mar. n.p.: So I did lay the law open to them, and rattle the Master-Attendants out of their wits almost.
1694		Congreve Double-Dealer II i: I’ll rattle him up, I warrant you, I’ll firk him with a certiorari!
1715		T. Hearne Reliquiae (1857) 331: Townshend, one of the secretaries of state, hath sent rattling letters to Dr. Charlett .
1785		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: To rattle one off; to rate or scold him.
1869		J.R. Browne Adventures in Apache Country 282: I think he was slightly rattled by the formidable appearance of our escort.
1884		Kansas Cowboy 23 Aug. in Miller & Snell Why the West was Wild 614: The city marshal brought up a six-footer of monstrous proportions, who got into a dive, and was rattling up the establishment.
1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 21: rattle v. To confuse, embarrass.
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Clarion Call’ in Voice of the City (1915) 195: Kind of rattles you, doesn’t it, to have the mysterious villain call up [...] and tell you what a helpless old gas-bag you are?
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 12 June 2nd sect. 10/2: He says his game of talk helped win the fight, as it got Nelson ‘rattled’.
1919		H.C. Witwer Smile A Minute 135: I got up amidst the wildest applause and four shells from the German trenches. Neither of ’em rattled me.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 37: He took it without blinking. You can’t rattle Jeeves.
1936		‘Banjo’ Paterson Shearer’s Colt 67: It takes much to rattle a Chinaman.
1947		I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 65: If he became rattled they were goners.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 153: Don’t let it rattle you, Jacky.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 99: Mayo shrugged, but the talk had rattled her.
1983		A. Payne ‘Get Daley!’ Minder [TV script] 51: You really think he doesn’t know who rattled Harrison?
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 180: She slipped behind the wheel of a giant Ford sedan, which momentarily rattled Shiner.
2000		Guardian Guide 5–11 Feb. 52: We can only hope that part two sees him grasp the chance to rattle him into defending his essentially Thatcherite ideas.
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 33: [H]e couldn’t meet my eyes. He rattled way too easy.

3. to have sexual intercourse.

1640		Parliament of Women B4: After spake Mistris Rachel Rattle a pace [etc].
[1661		in Ebsworth Merry Drollery Compleat (1875) 77: If Venus and Mars so stout / Had joined together in battle, / There could not have been more claps and more bangs, / For he made her old buttocks rattle].
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
2005		P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 4: Rattling his sister was payback.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers [15]: I never rattled as many women in my life as I did when I was married.

4. (also rattle along, rattle off, rattle one’s ass, ...hocks) to leave, to move off, usu. quickly and noisily.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Rattle c. to move off, or be gone.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1794		Sporting Mag. May IV 124/1: Lud, Sur, I’ve been every where, / Round the globe have rattled.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1847		‘Epistle from Joe Muggins’s Dog’ in Era (London) 24 Jan. 4/2: Away they rattled, right and left.
1853		G.J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand (1890) 20: We rattled along by moonlight on our way to the barracks.
1863		T. Taylor Ticket-Of-Leave Man Act III: I’ll drive to the bank — cash this — settle with those counter-skippers, and rattle back in time to see you turned off.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 70/2: In a minute we were on our way to Edinburgh. As we rattled along we turned out the ‘poke’.
1895		Record-union (Sacramento, CA) 30 Nov. 6/4: They come off the train [...] ready to rattle their hocks for the hotel.
1910		Keowee Courier (SC) 13 Apr. 2/2: Everybody rattle your hocks.
1914		C. Holme Lonely Plough (1931) 144: Lup said, ‘Like enough! Good-night to you, sir!’ and rattled off.
1933		M. Marshall Tramp-Royal on the Toby 58: Along I rattled at a great pace.
1934		(con. 1880s) E. Cunningham Triggernometry (1957) 209: Nor was it so simple as ‘rattling their hocks’ out of the American Valley.
1972		(con. 1916) G. Swarthout Tin Lizzie Troop (1978) 196: Was he, Dinkle, rattling his ass, and theirs, into a trap.

5. to move about, to act with energy, thus rattling, noisly energetic.

c.1775		H. Carey Honest Yorkshire-Man 18: O Bartledom [i.e. Bartholemew] Fair / [...] / Such Pork, Such Pig, / Such Game, Such Rig, / Such Rattling there.
1786		J. O’Keeffe Wicklow Mountains 16: In town I was gay; I rattled, swore, guzzled and gambled.
1840		London Mag. Feb. 14/2: The kingdom of Kerry had the honour of giving birth to this excellent specimen of a ‘rattling, roaring Irishman;’.
1842		S. Lover Handy Andy 83: It’s I that’ll rattle you there in no time, your honour.
1847		Era (London) 6 June 5/1: Werattled into Windsor to have breakfast.
1903		A.H. Lewis Boss 98: Shadow him: swing and rattle with him no matter where he goes.
1925		Black Mask Aug. III 49: The cops [...] hurried out to the Street as a patrol came rattling up.
1963		G. Lambert Inside Daisy Clover (1966) 220: I could get up right this moment, and rattle around the house for a while.
1997		Share Slanguage.

6. (Ulster) to work energetically.

1996

Share Slanguage.

7. to hit someone; thus rattle the ivories v., to hit someone in the teeth.

1861		M.E. Braddon Trail of the Serpent 315: The gentlemen of the prize-ring were prepared to fight as long as they had a bunch of fives to rattle upon the knowledge-box of the foe.
1907		Carr & Chase ‘Word-List From Eastern Maine’ in DN III:iii 248: rattle one’s slats, v.phr. To give a blow or blows in the ribs. ‘He rattled his slats.’.
1919		Marvel 3 Mar. 5: Hammer him! Go it, Bodder! Rattle it into the pig! Lam him!
1984		P. Barker Blow Your House Down 5: You want to rattle her chops a bit. That’d sharp cure her.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers [13]: [Y]ou’re no getting rattled. Or even hurt.

8. (US Und.) to blackmail.

1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 175/1: Rattle. To extort money from.

9. (drugs) to tremble, from heroin addiction.

1999		Scotland on Sun. Mag. 7 Nov. 16: 95% of Glasgow’s prostitutes are injecting drug addicts. That’s why they sway [...] That’s why they tremble. Rattling they call it. They need a hit.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 168: Ah’m a wee bit sick. —Rattlin? [Ibid.] 238: There’ still a bit of a drought up the road, skag-wise [...] I called Matty the other day. he was rattling like as pandas in a Chinese takeaway.