Library / English Dictionary

RUSTLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A light noise, like the noise of silk clothing or leaves blowing in the wind

Synonyms:

rustle; rustling; whisper; whispering

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("rustle" is a kind of...):

noise (sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound))

Derivation:

rustle (make a dry crackling sound)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a dry crackling sound

Example:

the dry leaves were rustling in the breeze

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "rustle" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence examples:

You can hear animals rustle in the meadows

The meadows rustle with animals

Derivation:

rustle; rustling (a light noise, like the noise of silk clothing or leaves blowing in the wind)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Forage food

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "rustle" is one way to...):

forage; scrounge (collect or look around for (food))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Take illegally

Example:

rustle cattle

Synonyms:

lift; rustle

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "rustle" is one way to...):

rip; rip off; steal (take without the owner's consent)

Domain category:

crime; criminal offence; criminal offense; law-breaking ((criminal law) an act punishable by law; usually considered an evil act)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They rustle the animals

Derivation:

rustler (someone who steals livestock (especially cattle))

rustling (the stealing of cattle)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Some years ago, when the images which this world affords first opened upon me, when I felt the cheering warmth of summer and heard the rustling of the leaves and the warbling of the birds, and these were all to me, I should have wept to die; now it is my only consolation.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

The sun had just set, the sea breeze was rustling and tumbling in the woods and ruffling the grey surface of the anchorage; the tide, too, was far out, and great tracts of sand lay uncovered; the air, after the heat of the day, chilled me through my jacket.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There was a rustle, as if the unhappy girl, on whom she heaped these taunts, ran towards the door, and the speaker swiftly interposed herself before it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

There was a light in the dressing-table, and the door of the closet, where, before going to bed, I had hung my wedding-dress and veil, stood open; I heard a rustling there.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I heard a sharp rustle, the night air blew into the heated room, and the avenger was gone.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Surely my guardian angel was very near me then, for some instinct of fear, or it may have been some faint rustle of leaves, made me glance upwards.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was a long pause, while a blackbird sung blithely on the willow by the river, and the tall grass rustled in the wind.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He had gone some way, lost in doubt and in self-reproach, his mind all tremulous with a thousand new-found thoughts and fears and wonderments, when of a sudden there was a light rustle of the leaves behind him, and, glancing round, there was this graceful, swift-footed creature, treading in his very shadow, with her proud head bowed, even as his was—the picture of humility and repentance.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The rocks of the Spy-glass re-echoed it a score of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds rose again, darkening heaven, with a simultaneous whirr; and long after that death yell was still ringing in my brain, silence had re-established its empire, and only the rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distant surges disturbed the languor of the afternoon.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

As the clock struck twelve he heard a rustling noise in the air, and a bird came flying that was of pure gold; and as it was snapping at one of the apples with its beak, the gardener’s son jumped up and shot an arrow at it.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)