[In 15th c. clater, but possibly coeval with the verb of same form. MDu. has clātere, Du. klater, a rattle, and klateren to clatter, rattle, chatter. Sense 2 appears earliest in our quots., and ought perhaps to stand first.
The OE. Clædur, cledr, cleadur (Epinal 218, etc.) ‘tabula qua a segitibus territantur aves’ appears to be connected, but is not phonetically identical.]
1. A rattling noise made by the rapidly repeated collision of sonorous bodies that do not ring. ‘A clatter is a clash often repeated with great quickness, and seems to convey the idea of a sound sharper and shriller than a rattle’ (J.).
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, VI. lxxi. 750. Their [aspen leaves’] continual shaking, and noysome clatter.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. vii. 21. By this great clatter, one of greatest note Seemes bruited.
1683. Temple, Mem., Wks. 1731, I. 419. My Horses were so unruly with that Noise, and the Clatter of the Planks, that [etc.].
1758. Johnson, Idler, No. 8, ¶ 9. The clatter of empty pots.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xliv. The clatter of horses’ hoofs was heard.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, I. xi. 227. The clatter of their hoes among the pebbles.
2. Noisy talk; confused din of voices, gabble. Often applied contemptuously to what is treated as mere empty gabble.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 190 (Mätzn.). As good that thou had Halden stille thy clater. Ibid., 257. Hold stille thy clattur.
a. 1638. Mede, Wks., Gen. Pref. To make an astonishing clatter with many words of a strange sound and of an unknown sense.
1813. Edin. Rev., XXI. 70. The people … have in their pronunciation a small degree of the clatter.
1829. Lytton, Disowned, 7. The conversation changed into one universal clatter.
1851. Longf., Gold. Leg., V. Foot of Alps. Such a clatter of tongues in empty heads.
b. Gossip, chatter, idle talk, tittle-tattle. Often in pl. Chiefly Sc.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (1885), 68. Latting pas thir fables, and a hundir sik clatteris.
a. 1662. Baillie, Lett., I. 216 (Jam.). We take it, and many things more you will hear, for clatters.
1790. Burns, Tam o’ Shanter, 45. The night drave on wi’ sangs an’ clatter.
1843. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., I. 255. Oh, what nonsense clatter I do write to thee!
3. Comb. Clatter-bone, -bane, Sc. a. a bone humorously supposed to move when one chatters or prates; b. in pl. ‘two pieces of bone or slate held between the fingers, which produce a clattering noise, similar to that from castanets.’ (Jam.).
1721. Kelly, Sc. Prov., 387 (Jam.). Your Tongue goes like the clatter Bone of a Goose’s Arse.
1823. Galt, Entail, I. xx. 166. ‘Thy tongue, woman,’ exclaimed her husband, ‘gangs like the clatter-bane o’ a goose’s ——.’
