rattletrap noun 4adjective 1forms 1 noun4 •(informal) A mechanical device, particularly an automobile, that is worn out, run down, or mechanically unreliable as indicated by noises it makes in operation.Mom always worried about our safety in my friend's rattletrap. I told her not to worry, as it can't go fast enough to be dangerous. •(old-fashioned) Any piece of miscellaneous equipment or junk.And they tumbled about the rattletraps under the cupboard, and rummaged the drawers in search of the sacred volume. — 1863 •(slang, disapproving) A person's mouth.Shut your rattletrap! •A type of noisemaker in which the teeth of a gear repeatedly bend and release a stiff tongue. adjective1 •Mechanically unreliable or in disrepair.All services for the biggest embassy in the world will operate independently from the rattletrap utilities of the Iraqi capital. (speaking of the new US Embassy in Baghdad) — 2006 formsrattletraps
