3 entries under this word
v. i. [imp. & p. p. PATTERED; p. pr. & vb. n. PATTERING.] [A frequentative of pat, to strike gently.] To strike, as falling drops of water or hail, with a quick succession of small sounds; as, pattering hail.
The stealing shower is scarce to patter heard. Thomson.
v. t. 1. To cause to strike or beat in drops, as water; to spatter; to sprinkle. “And patter the water about the boat.” Drake. 2. To repeat in a muttering manner, as prayers; to mumble and run over in praying. Fitz-Eustace, you, with Lady Clare, May bid your beads and patter prayer— I gallop to the host. W. Scott. ☞ In the last meaning, the word is probably from the Latin Pater Noster, or the Lord’s Prayer. This was said, before the Reformation, in a low voice, by the priest, until he came to “and lead us not into temptation,” to which the choir responded, “but deliver us from evil.” To patter flash, to speak the dialect of thieves, &c.; to talk cant. [Cant.]
n. 1. A quick succession of small sounds; as, the patter of rain. 2. A speech or discourse. [Cant.]