Word.ws English Dictionary

rattle trap

rattle trap is the alternative spelling of rattletrap.

Meaning of rattletrap

Noun

rattletrap (plural rattletraps)

  1. (informal) A mechanical device, particularly an automobile, that is worn out, run down, or mechanically unreliable as indicated by noises it makes in operation.
    • Mom always worried about our safety in my friend's rattletrap. I told her not to worry, as it can't go fast enough to be dangerous.
  2. (dated) Any piece of miscellaneous equipment or junk.
    • And they tumbled about the rattletraps under the cupboard, and rummaged the drawers in search of the sacred volume.1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard
  3. A type of noisemaker in which the teeth of a gear repeatedly bend and release a stiff tongue.
  4. (dated, derogatory, slang) A person's mouth.
    • Shut your rattletrap!
    Synonyms:
    trap, yap

See all 5 meanings of rattletrap

Forms of rattle trap

pluralrattle traps

Questions about rattle trap

What is rattle trap the alternative spelling of?
Rattle trap is the alternative spelling of rattletrap.

Words near rattle trap in the dictionary

  1. rattle stones
  2. rattle the bones
  3. rattle the saber
  4. rattle the sabre
  5. rattle through
  6. rattle trap
  7. rattle traps
  8. rattle-free
  9. rattle-pate
  10. rattle-pates
  11. rattleback

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rattle trap (page history and authors); rattletrap (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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Cite this entry: “rattle trap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rattle_trap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.