资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Patter \Pat"ter\, v. t.
   1. To spatter; to sprinkle. [R.] ``And patter the water about
      the boat.'' --J. R. Drake.

   2. [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]