Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various plants of the genus Crotalaria of the pea family, having inflated pods containing seeds that rattle when the stem is moved.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A toy that makes a rattling noise; a rattle.
  • noun A plant, the yellow rattle. See rattle, 6 .
  • noun Any of the North American species of Crotalaria; chiefly, C. sagittalis, a low herb of sandy soil in the eastern half of the United States. The seeds rattle in the inflated leathery pod.
  • noun The calico-wood, snowdrop-, or silverbell-tree, Halesia tetraptera: so named from its large dry fruit, which is bony within and contains a single seed in each of its 1 to 4 cells. See Halesia and calico-wood.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A toy that makes a rattling sound; a rattle.
  • noun An American herb (Crotalaria sagittalis), the seeds of which, when ripe, rattle in the inflated pod.
  • noun Any species of Crotalaria, a genus of yellow-flowered herbs, with inflated, many-seeded pods.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A toy that makes a rattle sound; a rattle.
  • noun An American herb (Crotalaria sagittalis), whose ripe seeds rattle in the inflated pod.
  • noun Any species of Crotalaria, a genus of yellow-flowered herbs, with inflated, many-seeded pods.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various plants of the genus Crotalaria having inflated pods within which the seeds rattle; used for pasture and green-manure crops

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

rattle +‎ box

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Examples

  • "Found art, " I said in a dry, rattlebox voice that hardly sounded like my own.

    Duma Key King, Stephen, 1947- 2008

  • "Gracious, what a rattlebox you're getting to be, Alice," spoke Ruth, soberly, as she laid aside her sewing and went to the bureau for her pocketbook.

    The Moving Picture Girls Snowbound Or, The Proof on the Film Laura Lee Hope

  • "Oh, if that's all, I'll make myself into a live mummy and lie still; with Baby for a self-moving rattlebox to amuse me."

    The Woman's Advocate Vol. III 1870

  • "Oh, if that's all, I'll make myself into a live mummy and lie still; with Baby for a self-moving rattlebox to amuse me."

    The Woman's Advocate Vol. III No. III March, 1870 1870

  • (showy crotalaria or rattlebox) and Indigo fera hirsute (hairy indigo) can reduce populations of most type of nematodes.

    Chapter 10 1981

  • The only things to be careful about were a little, shiny, slender snake, with a head as bright as mother's copper kettle, and a big thick one with patterns on its back like those in Laddie's geometry books, and a whole rattlebox on its tail; not to eat any berry or fruit I didn't know without first asking father; and always to be sure to measure how deep the water was before I waded in alone.

    Laddie: A True Blue Story 1913

  • I took one good look at it: no coppery head, no geometry patterns, no rattlebox, so I knew it wasn't poisonous and wouldn't bite until it was hurt, and if it did, all you had to do was to suck the place, and it wouldn't amount to more than two little pricks as if pins had stuck you; but a big snake was a good excuse.

    Laddie: A True Blue Story 1913

  • I took one good look at it: no coppery head, no geometry patterns, no rattlebox, so I knew it wasn't poisonous and wouldn't bite until it was hurt, and if it did, all you had to do was to suck the place, and it wouldn't amount to more than two little pricks as if pins had stuck you; but a big snake was a good excuse.

    Laddie; a true blue story Gene Stratton-Porter 1893

  • The only things to be careful about were a little, shiny, slender snake, with a head as bright as mother's copper kettle, and a big thick one with patterns on its back like those in Laddie's geometry books, and a whole rattlebox on its tail; not to eat any berry or fruit I didn't know without first asking father; and always to be sure to measure how deep the water was before I waded in alone.

    Laddie; a true blue story Gene Stratton-Porter 1893

  • "One does not like to tell an artist what to do; really, one cannot tell an artist what to do, and yet" oh dear" She broke out in the loose, rattlebox cough of the lifelong smoker.

    Duma Key King, Stephen, 1947- 2008

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