rattle off
English
Pronunciation
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb
rattle off (third-person singular simple present rattles off, present participle rattling off, simple past and past participle rattled off)
- (idiomatic, transitive) To list or recite quickly.
- When I suggested it, he promptly rattled off a dozen reasons that it wouldn't work.
- 2022 October 22, Maureen Dowd, “Ralph Fiennes, Master of Monsters”, in The New York Times:
- When he was 14, he could name all the Bond girls. Can he still? / He rattles off the names, from Honey Ryder to Pussy Galore to Domino to Kissy Suzuki. He said he toyed with the idea of playing James Bond and had a conversation about it at one point, but he asked if it could be a black-and-white period piece set in the ’50s.
- (obsolete, transitive) To rail at; to scold.
- 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull:
- She would sometimes rattle off her servants sharply.
-
Synonyms
- reel off
- trot out
- rhyme off (Canadian)
Translations
list or recite quickly
|