Definition of "rattlesnake" []

• Any of various venomous New World snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus, having at the end of the tail a series of loosely attached, horny segments that can be vibrated to produce a rattling or buzzing sound. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Among others, there is a sort of snake, which we call rattlesnake, from a certain object which it has back upon its tail, two or three fingers 'breadth long, and has ten or twelve joints, and with this it makes a noise like the crickets."
• "Gil probably should have thought about that and realized that a street address with the word rattlesnake in it was most likely a bad omen—that things probably wouldn’t turn out well if they tried living there."
• "Tea Party activists view the flag as a historic symbol of American defiance, but critics say the familiar flag with the image of a coiled rattlesnake is now associated with the controversial political movement."