rattle \rat"tle\, n.
   1. a rapid succession of sharp, clattering sounds; as, the
      rattle of a drum. --prior.
      1913 webster

   2. noisy, rapid talk.
      1913 webster

            all this ado about the golden age is but an empty
            rattle and frivolous conceit.         --hakewill.
      1913 webster

   3. an instrument with which a rattling sound is made;
      especially, a child's toy that rattles when shaken.
      1913 webster

            the rattles of isis and the cymbals of brasilea
            nearly enough resemble each other.    --sir w.
                                                  raleigh.
      1913 webster

            pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw. --pope.
      1913 webster

   4. a noisy, senseless talker; a jabberer.
      1913 webster

            it may seem strange that a man who wrote with so
            much perspicuity, vivacity, and grace, should have
            been, whenever he took a part in conversation, an
            empty, noisy, blundering rattle.      --macaulay.
      1913 webster

   5. a scolding; a sharp rebuke. obs. --heylin.
      1913 webster

   6. zool. any organ of an animal having a structure adapted
      to produce a rattling sound.
      1913 webster

   note: the rattle of a rattlesnake is composed of the hardened
         terminal scales, loosened in succession, but not cast
         off, and so modified in form as to make a series of
         loose, hollow joints.
         1913 webster

   7. the noise in the throat produced by the air in passing
      through mucus which the lungs are unable to expel; --
      chiefly observable at the approach of death, when it is
      called the death rattle. see r^ale.
      1913 webster

   to spring a rattle, to cause it to sound.

   yellow rattle bot., a yellow-flowered herb rhinanthus
      crista-galli, the ripe seeds of which rattle in the
      inflated calyx.
      1913 webster
see also:
r^ale to spring a rattle yellow rattle rhinanthus crista-galli 

cockscomb \cocks"comb`\ ko^ks"k=om`, n. 1st cock, n. +
   comb crest.
   1. see coxcomb.
      1913 webster

   2. bot. a plant celosia cristata, of many varieties,
      cultivated for its broad, fantastic spikes of brilliant
      flowers; -- sometimes called garden cockscomb. also the
      pedicularis, or lousewort, the rhinanthus
      crista-galli, and the onobrychis crista-galli.
      1913 webster
see also:
coxcomb celosia cristata garden cockscomb pedicularis rhinanthus crista-galli onobrychis crista-galli