Rale : n : a rapid series of short loud sounds (as might be heard with
a stethoscope in some types of respiratory disorders);
"the death rattle" [syn: rattle, rattling]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Rale : \R[^a]le\, n. [F. r[^a]le. Cf. Rail the bird.] (Med.)
An adventitious sound, usually of morbid origin, accompanying
the normal respiratory sounds. See Rhonchus.
Note: Various kinds are distinguished by pathologists;
differing in intensity, as loud and small; in quality,
as moist, dry, clicking, and sonorous; and in origin,
as tracheal, pulmonary, and pleural.
From University of Miami School of Medicine
Rale :
Rale: A type of abnormal lung sound heard through a stethoscope. Rales may be sibilant (whistling), dry (crackling) or wet (more sloshy) depending on the amount and density of fluid refluxing
back and forth in the air passages. The word rale is a straight steal from the French rale (minus the circumflex accent over the a). In French, a rale was originally restricted to the death rattle (le
rale de mort). After Laennec invented the stethoscope in France in 1815, he borrowed the word rale to apply it to the less ominous, albeit still abnormal, lung sounds he heard through his newfangled
instrument.
