rat-tat-tat

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English

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Etymology

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Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

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rat-tat-tat!

  1. The sound made by knocking on a door with a hard object (such as a door knocker).
  2. The sound made by firing an automatic machine gun.

Noun

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rat-tat-tat (plural rat-tat-tats)

  1. Such a sound.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      Then it grew louder and more distinct - it was a clear rat-tat-tat.
    • 2023 November 30, Foster Klug, “South Koreans want their own nukes. That could roil one of the world’s most dangerous regions”, in Associated Press[1]:
      To the steady rat-tat-tat of machine guns and exploding bursts of smoke, amphibious tanks slice across a lake not far from the big green mountains that stand along the world’s most heavily armed border.

Usage notes

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  • The tat syllable may be repeated further to convey a sound of longer duration.

Translations

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