rale

also
n.
An abnormal respiratory sound characterized by fine crackles.

[French râle, from râler, to make a rattling sound in the throat, from Old French racler, to scrape, rattle. See raclette.]

(rāl)
n

1. abnormal sound that originates from the trachea, bronchi, or lungs. v 2. to make such a sound.

or râle (räl)
n.

An abnormal or pathological respiratory sound heard on auscultation.

An abnormal respiratory sound heard in auscultation and indicating some pathological condition. Rales are distinguished as dry or moist, according to the absence or presence of fluid in the air passages, and are classified according to their site of origin as bronchial, cavernous, laryngeal, pleural, tracheal and vesicular (crepitant).

• amphoric r. — a coarse, musical and tinkling rale due to the splashing of fluid in a cavity connected with a bronchus.
• atelectatic r. — a nonpathological rale which is dissipated by deep breathing or coughing. Such rales are frequently heard in those who breathe feebly and superficially, when on deep inspiration the moist walls of the unexpanded alveoli are suddenly forced apart by the entering air; after a few deep inspirations such rales become lost.
• bubbling r. — a moist rale, finer than a subcrepitant rale, heard in bronchitis, in the resolving stage of pneumonia, and over small cavities.
• cavernous r. — a hollow and metallic rale caused by the alternate expansion and contraction of a pulmonary cavity during respiration.
• cellophane r. — a dry, crackling chest sound, as heard in interstitial pulmonary emphysema.
• clicking r. — a small sticky sound heard on inspiration, due to the passage of air through secretions in the smaller bronchi.
• consonating r. — a clear, ringing sound produced in bronchial tubes that are surrounded by consolidation tissue.
• crepitant r. — a very fine crackling rale.
• dry r. — a rale produced by the presence of viscid secretion in the bronchial tubes, or by spastic contraction of the walls of the tubes; it has a whistling, musical or squeaking quality.
• gurgling r. — a very coarse rale resembling the bursting of large bubbles; in pulmonary edema, heard over large cavities that contain fluid, and in the trachea in the ‘death rattle’.
• sibilant r. — a hissing sound resembling that produced by suddenly separating two oiled surfaces. It is produced by the presence of a viscid secretion in the bronchial tubes or by thickening of the walls of the tubes; heard in asthma and bronchitis.
• subcrepitant r. — a fine, moist rale associated with fluid in the bronchioles.

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The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a rapid series of short loud sounds (as might be heard with a stethoscope in some types of respiratory disorders)
  Synonyms: rattle, rattling

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