0 present participle of rattle --
2 to (cause something to) make a noise like a series of knocks: --
We hate to come here rattling a begging bowl.
You cannot play at rattling the sabre without it coming out of the scabbard sooner or later.
We heard him rattling through the personality questions.
He sees the raising of money as nurses rattling tin cans on street corners.
Neither doctor told her to breathe more quietly: there was no noisy rattling.
Some of us of the younger generation are not quite so interested in the rattling skeletons of defunct statesmen.
All right, let us stop the sabre rattling and have one.
School is no exception: the sounds of rattling papers, moving chairs, and even biological noises such as coughs and stomach gurgles can mask a teacher's speech temporarily.