1 [sing.] the sound that is made by sth repeatedly hitting a surface quickly and lightly:
the patter of feet / footsteps * the patter of rain on the roof
2 [U,sing.] fast continuous talk by sb who is trying to sell you sth or entertain you:
sales patter
IDIOMS
the patter of tiny feet (informal or humorous) a way of referring to children when sb wants, or is going to have, a baby:
We can't wait to hear the patter of tiny feet.
verb [V+adv./prep.]
1 to make quick, light sounds as a surface is being hit several times:
Rain pattered against the window.
2 to walk with light steps in a particular direction:
I heard her feet pattering along the corridor.
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About this entry
This is a English–English dictionary entry.
Sourced from Main Dictionary in Lughet's collection.
This word also appears under other sources in Lughet's collection — see the list below.
This entry for patter is sourced from Main Dictionary, one of the dictionaries and corpora merged into Lughet.
Is patter a noun, verb, or something else?
In this entry, patter is tagged as noun.
Does patter appear elsewhere on Lughet?
Yes — patter appears under other sources or language pairs in Lughet's collection. See the list below.
What is Lughet?
Lughet is a free trilingual dictionary covering nearly five million entries across Uyghur, Chinese, and English, drawn from more than ten source dictionaries and corpora.
