Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A rickety, worn-out vehicle.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A shaky, rattling object; especially, a rattling, rickety vehicle; in the plural, objects clattering or rattling against each other.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun colloq. Any machine or vehicle that does not run smoothly.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Mechanically
unreliable or indisrepair . - noun A mechanical device, particularly an automobile, that is worn out, run down, or mechanically unreliable as indicated by noises it makes in operation.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word rattletrap.
Examples
-
It must reward them, or their children would not be able to go to school, nor would so many of them be able to drive by in rattletrap, second-hand buggies or in stout light wagons.
-
It must reward them, or their children would not be able to go to school, nor would so many of them be able to drive by in rattletrap, second-hand buggies or in stout light wagons.
-
I just wonder what kind of rattletrap duct-taped mayhem is disguised under a smooth oxymoron like "collective intelligence."
-
I packed up my belongings and steered onto I-5 in my rattletrap '91 Honda Accord to return to L.A. to celebrate.
Rex Pickett: The 'Sideways' Publishing Saga -- The St. Martin's Press Nightmare (Part I)
-
I packed up my belongings and steered onto I-5 in my rattletrap '91 Honda Accord to return to L.A. to celebrate.
Rex Pickett: The 'Sideways' Publishing Saga -- The St. Martin's Press Nightmare (Part I)
-
There was an old rattletrap ruin where the bungalow now stands.
-
Theroux is firsthand witness to it all, traveling as the locals doby stifling train, rattletrap bus, illicit taxi, and mud-caked footencountering adventures only he could have: from the literary (sparring with the incisive Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk) to the dissolute (surviving a week-long bender on the Trans-Siberian Railroad).
Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux: Book summary
-
You think Spielberg would only have a rattletrap third-rate spaceship like the Millennium Falcon to ensure his survival?
-
After a few minutes Kassim came downstairs, walked across the sandy driveway, and drove off in his rattletrap Toyota van.
-
Rollie grinned from inside a rattletrap Chevy pickup.
trivet commented on the word rattletrap
an onomatopoeic delight! best when uttered with scathing derision
February 16, 2007
reesetee commented on the word rattletrap
Nice one! In the same family as claptrap, I say.
February 16, 2007