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PATTER

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 936 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PATTER , properly a See also:

slang word for the See also:secret or " cant " See also:language used by beggars, thieves, See also:gipsies, &c., hence the fluent plausible talk that a cheap-See also:jack employs to pass off his goods, or a conjuror to See also:cover up his tricks. It is thus used of any rapid manner of talking, and of a " patter-See also:song," in which a very large number of words have to be sung at high See also:speed to See also:fit them to the See also:music. The word, though in some of its senses affected by patter," to make a See also:series of rapid strokes or pats, as of See also:rain-drops, is derived from the See also:quick, See also:mechanical repetition of the Paternoster, or See also:Lord's See also:Prayer.

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