rattle around

phrasal verb

rattled around; rattling around; rattles around
informal
: to live or spend time in a place that is very big
Her husband died last year, and now she's just rattling around in that huge house by herself.
We rattled around Europe last summer.
sometimes used figuratively
An old song has been rattling around in my head all day.

Examples of rattle around in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web My husband too has traveled in those intervening years, but there was always a kid, or two, or three rattling around the house in his absence, needing food and cuddles and to be driven to some birthday party, youth sporting event or other. Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2024 After seeing a movie in a theater, most of us will dump our cardboard popcorn bucket — greased with butter, some leftovers rattling around the bottom — in a trash bin. Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 27 Feb. 2024 The ball rattled around the rim before eventually finding the bottom of the net, giving Liberty a 54-53 lead with under two minutes left. Nathan Canilao, The Mercury News, 21 Feb. 2024 But when its comedy isn’t tight as a screw, the play starts to rattle around the edges. EW.com, 29 Jan. 2024 These are a fraction of the scenarios and questions rattling around in my brain. Victoria Song, The Verge, 19 Nov. 2023 Her belongings — clothes, succulent plants, boxes of Cheez-Its — rattled around the back of her 1999 Infinity SUV, which topped out at 65 mph on the highway and was nicknamed the Mom-Mobile by classmates. Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2023 Finally, Timbers approached them both about Gutenberg!, which had been rattling around in his head for years. Marley Marius, Vogue, 7 Sep. 2023 After years of rattling around, Bennett acquired a manager, Ray Muscarella, who got him bookings and helped polish his presentation. Claudia Luther, Los Angeles Times, 21 July 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'rattle around.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Dictionary Entries Near rattle around

Cite this Entry

“Rattle around.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rattle%20around. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

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