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rustle

[ruhs-uhl]

Example Sentences Origin

verb (used without object)

to make a succession of slight, soft sounds, as of parts rubbing gently one on another, as leaves, silks, or papers.

to cause such sounds by moving or stirring something.

to move, proceed, or work energetically: Rustle around and see what you can find.

verb (used with object)

to move or stir so as to cause a rustling sound: The wind rustled the leaves.

to move, bring, or get by energetic action: I'll go rustle some supper.

to steal (livestock, especially cattle).

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Rustle is one of our favorite verbs.

So is yaff. Does it mean:

to bark; yelp.

to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

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noun

the sound made by anything that rustles: the rustle of leaves.

Verb phrase

rustle up, Informal. to find, gather, or assemble by effort or search: to rustle up some wood for a fire.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English rustlen (v.); compare Frisian russelje, Dutch ridselen; of imitative orig.

Related forms

rus·tling·ly, adverb

un·rus·tling, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To rustle

Example Sentences

Lunch arrives in a rustle of brown paper bags at a table under white birches.

Even if the authorities rustle up the money, they can ill afford to dawdle.

Tropic breezes rustle the palms, a turquoise sea laps white sand, and below the surface a coral reef teems with photogenic fish.

EXPAND

Lunch arrives in a rustle of brown paper bags at a table under white birches.

Even if the authorities rustle up the money, they can ill afford to dawdle.

Tropic breezes rustle the palms, a turquoise sea laps white sand, and below the surface a coral reef teems with photogenic fish.

The bedroom's lace curtains rustle in a cool spring breeze, filtering dots of sunlight onto a four-poster bed.

It's not difficult to rustle up some possible reasons for all this.

They might hear the rustle of paper, buses or birds outside the window, or students talking in the hallway.

Today, there is only the jungle, and the faint rustle of palms in the salt breeze.

It failed even to rustle up a candidate for comptroller.

The leaves of ten foot-tall poplar trees glisten in the sun and rustle in the wind.

The only sounds are the slight rustle of leaves and an occasional bird.

The turnout for registration was so low that the government had to extend the deadline by a week to rustle up voters.

With a rustle of branches, he goes deeper into the forest.

Shrubs with tiny leaves, turning red in autumn, rustle in the wind.

The artificial leaves won't rustle soothingly in a summer breeze, or change from green to red and fall to the ground in autumn.

To rustle up a little cash, he decides to produce a musical fashion show.

It is a story echoed often in the city: the quiet rustle in an entrenched neighborhood when a newer community arrives.

But inside the ivory towers it landed on many desks not so much with a thud as a rustle.

There is a rustle in the bushes and, mastering the temptation to flee, they grab the intruder.

Like bicycles, they get stolen, leaving their owners to rustle up new ones in the midst of a flag shortage.

New babies remain confined to cradle or crib and rarely rustle the bedding.

When you stop to listen, you can hear the rustle of trees and tires crunching on gravel.

The unrepeatable has turned into a minuet, dancing bears revolving in the limelight to the rustle of millions of dollars.

In the past few years there has been a rustle of academic activity focusing on food.

The lining may also bunch and peek out at the wrists and it may squeak and rustle when you walk.

Small-time politicians aspire to be warlords, using hired muscle to deter rivals and rustle up votes.

Woodpeckers hammer in the high branches, while on the forest floor dry leaves rustle with the scuttling of mud crabs.

For example it is advantageous to instantaneously interpret a rustle in the undergrowth as a predator rather than the wind.

Palms along a horse pasture rustle with the morning's first breeze, the swishing of a mare's tail.

As you plow through the crowds and rustle through the greens, you might want a little help focusing.

With the addition of the perfect frame, works of art may glow or gleam or rustle or whatever their makers intended them to.

Various countries have made constructive suggestions about how to rustle up cash.

The dawn is totally still, except for the rustle of leaves in the breeze and the cry of a cuckoo echoing through the hills.

Sunlight pours through four windows onto honey-colored wood floors while cotton curtains rustle in the ocean breeze.

The palm trees rustle in the trade winds, the long surf rolls upon the reefs.

Feste, proving that female filmmakers can rustle up distaff stereotypes as well as men, can only add a demographically canny amen.

Old women in lonely villages, hearing the rustle of the army through the corn, come forth with trays of sweetmeats.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

rustle¹ (ˈrʌs^əl)

—vb
1.	to make or cause to make a low crisp whispering or rubbing sound, as of dry leaves or paper
2.	to move with such a sound

—n
3.	such a sound or sounds

[Old English hrūxlian; related to Gothic hrukjan to crow², Old Norse hraukr raven, crow¹]

'rustling¹

—*adj*, —n

'rustlingly¹

—*adv*

rustle² (ˈrʌs^əl)

—vb
1.	chiefly (US), (Canadian) to steal (cattle, horses, etc)
2.	informal (US), (Canadian) to move swiftly and energetically

[C19: probably special use of rustle¹ (in the sense: to move with quiet sound)]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

rustle

"to emit soft, rapid sounds," late 14c. (implied in rustling), of uncertain origin, perhaps imitative (cf. M.L.G. ruschen, M.Du. ruusscen, Ger. rauschen "to rustle"). The noun is attested from 1759. Meaning "steal" (especially cattle) first attested 1882, probably from earlier Amer.Eng. slang sense of

EXPAND

"move about vigorously" (1872), perhaps a separate word, compounded from rush and hustle.

COLLAPSE

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crinkle

swish

Matching Quote

"When a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet as the murmur of the brook and the rustle of the corn."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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rustle

rus·tle