Word.ws English Dictionary

patter

/ˈpæt.ə//ˈpæt.ɚ/

patter noun: a soft repeated sound, as of rain falling, or feet walking on a hard surface.

Noun (1)

patter (plural patters)

  1. A soft repeated sound, as of rain falling, or feet walking on a hard surface.
    • I could hear the patter of mice running about in the dark.
    • 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

Verb (1)

patter (third-person singular simple present patters, present participle pattering, simple past and past participle pattered)

  1. To make irregularly repeated sounds of low-to-moderate magnitude and lower-than-average pitch.
    • The bullets pattered into the log-cabin walls.
    • The stealing shower […] 'Tis scarce to patter heard.a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC
  2. To spatter; to sprinkle.
    • 1819 (published in 1835) Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay
      Patter the water about the boat.

Noun (2)

patter (countable and uncountable, plural patters)

  1. Glib and rapid speech, such as from an auctioneer, a stage magician, a sports commentator, or a salesperson with a slick style of selling.
    • sales patter
    • This particularly rapid, unintelligible patter isn't generally heard, and if it is it doesn't matter.1887, Gilbert and Sullivan, “My Eyes Are Fully Open”, in Ruddigore

Verb (2)

patter (third-person singular simple present patters, present participle pattering, simple past and past participle pattered)

  1. To speak glibly and rapidly, as does an auctioneer or a sports commentator.
    • He showed a little of the pride of art in describing the management of his business, but he would not hear that he “pattered:” he talked to his customers, he declared, as any draper, who knew his business well, might talk to his.1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor; […], volume I (The London Street-folk. Book the First.), London: [George Woodfall], →OCLC, page 379
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To repeat the Lord's Prayer.
  3. (intransitive, obsolete) To pray.
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To repeat hurriedly; to mutter.

Noun (3)

patter (plural patters)

  1. One who pats.
    • I used to hate head patters, and I have realized that all children dislike being patted on the head.1981, Jackie Cooper, Richard Kleiner, Please Shoot Dog, page 50

patter meaning in Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada

patter in Urdu

چخ چخ, تیز طرار بولی, منتر پڑھنا

patter in Malayalam

ഉരുവിടുക, ജപിക്കുക, ചിലയ്ക്കുക, പുലമ്പുക

patter in Kannada

ಪಟಪಟ ಶಬ್ದ, ಗಿಲೀಟು ಮಾತು, ಮೋಸದ ಮಾತು, ಬಡಬಡಿಸು, ಪಟಪಟ ತಟ್ಟು, ಪಟಪಟನೆ ಶಬ್ದಮಾಡು

Examples of patter in a sentence

  • All a jock needs is some hep patter and a real gone image.1975, Garry Marshall et al., “Richie's Flip Side”, in Happy Days, season 2, episode 21, spoken by Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard):
  • Yeah, that's what it says.” “By the way, you're really gonna have to work on your patter a little bit.”2010 April 7, Kevin Shinick, “Blob Gets Job” (16:32 from the start), in Ugly Americans, season 1, episode 4, spoken by Mark Lilly (Matt...
  • As a young man he [Beppe Grillo] performed with a guitar in local bars, but fans preferred his pre-show patter, and he evolved into a successful stand-up comedian.2017, Jamie Bartlett, chapter 5, in Radicals, William Heinemann, →ISBN:

All 25 example sentences with patter

Forms of patter

Noun
pluralpatters
Verb
third-person singular presentpatters
present participlepattering
past participlepattered
pastpattered

Plural of patter: patters

Origin of patter

1610s, pat + -er (“frequentative (indicating repeated action)”), of (onomatopoeia) origin.

Noun is from Middle English pater, verb is from Middle English pateren. Noun attested 1758, originally referring to the cant of thieves and beggars.

From pat + -er (“agent”).

Words formed from patter

Phrases with patter

Words that rhyme with patter

10 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about patter

What does patter mean?
Patter means a soft repeated sound, as of rain falling, or feet walking on a hard surface.
What is patter in Urdu?
Patter in Urdu is چخ چخ, تیز طرار بولی, منتر پڑھنا. See Patter meaning in Urdu.
How do you use patter in a sentence?
All a jock needs is some hep patter and a real gone image.
What part of speech is patter?
Patter can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce patter?
Patter is pronounced /ˈpæt.ə/ (UK).
What is the plural of patter?
The plural of patter is patters.

Words near patter in the dictionary

  1. patteners
  2. pattening
  3. pattenmaker
  4. pattenmakers
  5. pattens
  6. patter
  7. patter flash
  8. patter song
  9. patter songs
  10. patteran
  11. patterans

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: patter (page history and authors); patter (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); patter (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); patter (Kannada Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-patter.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-patter.wav.

Cite this entry: “patter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/patter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.