Rattlepate

English

Alternative forms

• rattle-pate

Etymology

From rattle + pate.

Noun

rattlepate (plural rattlepates)

1. Archaic. A chatterbox; someone who talks a lot.
2. A volatile, unsteady, or whimsical man or woman.
   • 1848, Charles Fenno Hoffman, "The Man in the Reservoir", Greatest Short Stories, Volume 1, P. F. Collier & Son (1915), page 124:

     "The place seems suggestive of fancies to you?" we observed in reply to the rattlepate.

   • 1875, Charlotte Mary Yonge, The Clever Woman of the Family:

     "he is so quiet and reserved, and has that unlucky ironical way with him that people don't like; especially rattlepates like those"

   Synonym: rattlehead

References

• Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)