clatter
Syllables: clat·ter/ˈklætəː/US/ˈklæɾɚ/
clatter verb: to make a rattling sound. Also the alternative form of clitter.
Verb
clatter (third-person singular simple present clatters, present participle clattering, simple past and past participle clattered)
- To make a rattling sound.
- When all the bees are gone to settle, / You clatter still your brazen kettle.1728, Jonathan Swift, “A Dialogue between Mad Mullinix and Timothy”, in Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols, editors, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, […], new edition, volume VII, London: […]...
- When he came to Nottingham, he entered that part of the market where butchers stood, and took up his inn in the best place he could find. Next, he opened his stall and spread his meat upon the bench, then, taking his cleaver and steel and clattering them together, he trolled aloud in merry tones...1883, Howard Pyle, “Robin Hood Turns Butcher”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC, part second, page 49
- 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: […]c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.
- 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.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Iulye. Ægloga Septima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 29, recto
- To hit; to smack.
- "I can't watch it because I have to go outside and clatter someone in the nuts!”1988, Harry Enfield, Friday Night Live
- “An Orange bitch clattered seven shades of shite out of her,” Padraig eagerly piped up.2010, Gerald Hansen, Hand in the Till
Noun
clatter (plural clatters)
- 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.1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC
- 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.2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian
- A loud disturbance.
- Noisy talk or chatter.
- 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.1970 December 22, “Women First; Contraception: what do you think?”, in The Irish Times, page 6
- 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.1985, Emma Cooke, Eve's Apple, Blackstaff Press, →ISBN, page 20
Also used as
clatter is also the alternative form of clitter.
clatter meaning in Sanskrit and Arabic
clatter in Sanskrit
- A loud disturbance
- तुमुल tumula
clatter in Arabic
- To make a rattling noise
- قَعْقَعَ qaʕqaʕa
Examples of clatter in a sentence
- Next, he opened his stall and spread his meat upon the bench, then, taking his cleaver and steel and clattering them together, he trolled aloud in merry tones: […]1883, Howard Pyle, “Robin Hood Turns Butcher”, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […]...
- 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; […]1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October...
- What of my impetus and the stunning surprise, I clattered three or four steps along the deck before I could stop myself.1904, Jack London, chapter 32, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC:
- [Hoop-and-stick] was not a little gentleman's game but was played by boys in heavy boots making a terrific noise as they clattered along on the pavements at quite a speed.1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 127:
Synonyms of clatter
Antonyms
Forms of clatter
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | clatters |
| present participle | clattering |
| past participle | clattered |
| past | clattered |
| Noun | |
| plural | clatters |
Origin of clatter
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.
Words formed from clatter
Words that rhyme with clatter
Questions about clatter
- What does clatter mean?
- Clatter means to make a rattling sound.
- What is clatter in Sanskrit?
- Clatter in Sanskrit is तुमुल (tumula). See Clatter meaning in Sanskrit.
- How do you use clatter in a sentence?
- Next, he opened his stall and spread his meat upon the bench, then, taking his cleaver and steel and clattering them together, he trolled aloud in merry tones: […]
- What part of speech is clatter?
- Clatter can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce clatter?
- Clatter is pronounced /ˈklætəː/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of clatter?
- The past tense of clatter is clattered.
Words near clatter in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clatter (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-clatter.wav.
Cite this entry: “clatter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clatter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.