Rattletrap

Quick meaning: Rattletrap is an adjective meaning Mechanically unreliable or in disrepair.

Meaning

Mechanically unreliable or in disrepair.

More Meanings

1. A type of noisemaker in which the teeth of a gear repeatedly bend and release a stiff tongue.
2. (informal) A mechanical device, particularly an automobile, that is worn out, run down, or mechanically unreliable as indicated by noises it makes in operation.
3. (dated) Any piece of miscellaneous equipment or junk.
4. (dated, slang, derogatory) A person's mouth.

Example Sentences

Shut your rattletrap!

And they tumbled about the rattletraps under the cupboard, and rummaged the drawers in search of the sacred volume.

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.

BLANCHE:What you are talking about is brutal desire--just--Desire!--the name of that rattle-trap streetcar that bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another.

Word Forms

• rattletraps

Synonyms for rattletrap

Depending on context, synonyms include banger, beater, clunker, crate, crock, flivver.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include jalopy, rattleheaded, clanky, antirattle, crepitant, rackle.

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