rustle

/ˈɹʌsəl/

rustle noun: a soft crackling sound similar to the movement of dry leaves.

Noun

rustle (plural rustles)

A soft crackling sound similar to the movement of dry leaves.
- He heard the silken rustle of a dressing-gown being drawn on.1994, Stephen Fry, chapter 2, in The Hippopotamus
A movement producing such a sound.

Verb

rustle (third-person singular simple present rustles, present participle rustling, simple past and past participle rustled)

(ergative) To move (something) with a soft crackling sound.
- The next day at three o'clock we were again at the door, and the footmen as before; we heard the silk dress rustle, and the lady came down the steps and in an imperious voice, she said, "York, you must put those horses' heads higher, they are not fit to be seen."[1877], Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 104
(transitive) To make or obtain in a lively, energetic way.
- When at last the lumber was piled again in its rightful place, and the boxes of food had been returned to the shelter from which they had been stolen, the two friends rustled a meal, and then set off on horseback […]1921, William M. McCoy, The Valley of the Sun, page 48
Synonyms:

rustle up
(transitive) To steal (cattle or other livestock).

rustle meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Tagalog

rustle in Malayalam

കിരുകിരാശബ്ദം ഉണ്ടാക്കുക, മർമ്മരശബ്ദം പുറപ്പെടുവിക്കുക

rustle in Tagalog

soft crackling sound: kulos

More languagesFewer languages

rustle in Arabic: حَفِيف ḥafīf
rustle in Persian: شرفه šarfe
rustle in Vietnamese: lao xao

Examples of rustle in a sentence

I could hear the soft rustle of the leaves in the trees.
I'll see if I can rustle up a meal before the guests start arriving in 30 minutes.
The trapper wore deerskins because they were softer than cow leather garments and rustled less than canvas.

All 40 example sentences with rustle

Synonyms of rustle

rustle up

Forms of rustle

Noun
plural	rustles
Verb
third-person singular present	rustles
present participle	rustling
past participle	rustled
past	rustled

Plural of rustle: rustles

Origin of rustle

From Middle English rustelen, russelen, of uncertain origin, but probably from Old English hrūxlian, hristlan, hrystlan, hristlian (“to make a noise”). Compare also Scots reesle (“to crackle; rattle; rustle”), West Frisian risselje, Dutch ritselen (“to rustle”), Afrikaans ritsel (“to rustle”), German rascheln (“to rustle”).

Words formed from rustle

Words that rhyme with rustle

Questions about rustle

What does rustle mean?: Rustle means a soft crackling sound similar to the movement of dry leaves.
What is rustle in Tamil?: Rustle in Tamil is சலசலப்பொலி, உரசலொலி, சரசரவொலி. See Rustle meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is rustle?: Rustle can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce rustle?: Rustle is pronounced /ˈɹʌsəl/.
What is the plural of rustle?: The plural of rustle is rustles.

Words near rustle in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: rustle (page history and authors); rustle (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rustle (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); rustle (Malayalam 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-rustle.wav.

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