Word Direct Answers

What does "patter" mean?

Patter: To mutter; to mumble; as, to patter with the lips. Tyndale. Etym: [In this sense, and in the following, perh. from paternoster.]

Additional senses

  1. 2.To talk glibly; to chatter; to harangue. [Colloq.] I've gone out and pattered to get money. Mayhew.
  2. 3.To spatter; to sprinkle. [R.] "And patter the water about the boat." J. R. Drake.
  3. 4.Etym: [See Patter, v. i., 2.] To mutter; as prayers. [The hooded clouds] patter their doleful prayers. Longfellow. To patter flash, to talk in thieves' cant. [Slang]
  4. 5.A quick succession of slight sounds; as, the patter of rain; the patter of little feet.
  5. 6.Glib and rapid speech; a voluble harangue.
  6. 7.The cant of a class; patois; as, thieves's patter; gypsies' patter.

Sources