Adjacent Words

Rustle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

RUSTLE, v.i. rus'l.
To make a quick succession of small sounds, like the rubbing of silk cloth or dry leaves; as a rustling silk; rustling leaves or trees; rustling wings.
He is coming; I hear the straw rustle.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a light noise, like the noise of silk clothing or leaves blowing in the wind [syn: rustle, rustling, whisper, whispering] v
1: make a dry crackling sound; "rustling silk"; "the dry leaves were rustling in the breeze"
2: take illegally; "rustle cattle" [syn: rustle, lift]
3: forage food

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (rustled; rustling) Etymology: Middle English rustelen Date: 14th century intransitive verb 1. to make or cause a rustle 2. a. to act or move with energy or speed b. to forage food 3. to steal cattle transitive verb 1. to cause to rustle 2. a. to obtain by one's own exertions — often used with up <able to rustle up $5,000 bail — Jack McCallum> b. forage 3. to steal (as livestock) especially from a farm or ranch • rustler noun II. noun Date: 1759 a quick succession or confusion of small sounds

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 intr. & tr. make or cause to make a gentle sound as of dry leaves blown in a breeze. 2 intr. (often foll. by along etc.) move with a rustling sound. 3 tr. (also absol.) steal (cattle or horses). 4 intr. US colloq. hustle. --n. a rustling sound or movement. Phrases and idioms: rustle up colloq. produce quickly when needed. Derivatives: rustler n. (esp. in sense 3 of v.). Etymology: ME rustel etc. (imit.): cf. obs. Flem. ruysselen, Du. ritselen

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rustle Rus"tle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rustled; p. pr. & vb. n. Rustling.] [AS. hristlan to rustle; or cf. Sw. rusta to stir, make a riot, or E. rush, v.] 1. To make a quick succession of small sounds, like the rubbing or moving of silk cloth or dry leaves. He is coming; I hear his straw rustle. --Shak. Prouder than rustling in unpaid-for silk. --Shak. 2. To stir about energetically; to strive to succeed; to bustle about. [Slang, Western U.S.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rustle Rus"tle, v. t. To cause to rustle; as, the wind rustles the leaves.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rustle Rus"tle, n. A quick succession or confusion of small sounds, like those made by shaking leaves or straw, by rubbing silk, or the like; a rustling. When the noise of a torrent, the rustle of a wood, the song of birds, or the play of lambs, had power to fill the attention, and suspend all perception of the course of time. --Idler.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(rustles, rustling, rustled) When something thin and dry rustles or when you rustle it, it makes soft sounds as it moves. The leaves rustled in the wind... She rustled her papers impatiently... A snake rustled through the dry grass. VERB: V, V n, V prep • Rustle is also a noun. She sat perfectly still, without even a rustle of her frilled petticoats. N-COUNT: usu sing • rustling (rustlings) ...a rustling sound coming from beneath one of the seats. N-VAR: oft N of n see also rustling

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Rustling.

Moby Thesaurus

abstract, and, annex, appropriate, bag, boost, borrow, celerity, cop, crib, crinkle, defraud, dispatch, embezzle, expedition, expeditiousness, extort, filch, froufrou, hook, hurry, hustle, lift, make off with, nip, palm, pilfer, pinch, poach, purloin, run away with, rustling, scrounge, shoplift, sibilance, sibilate, sibilation, snare, snatch, snitch, speed, speediness, steal, susurrate, susurration, susurrus, swiftness, swindle, swipe, swish, swishing, take, thieve, walk off with, whish, whisper, whispering