jangle

Etymology 1

From Middle English janglen (“to talk excessively, chatter; to talk idly, gossip; to nag; to complain, grumble; to argue, debate; to discuss, talk; to talk indistinctly, jabber; to make a noise or outcry; of a bird: to chatter, twitter”) [and other forms], from Old French jangler (“to chatter, gossip; to argue noisily; to bawl”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain, perhaps from Old Dutch *jangelon (“to jeer”) (compare Middle Dutch jangelen (“to murmur, grumble, buzz, mutter, drone, simmer”), modern Dutch jengelen (“to whine, persistently nag, whimper”), though the Oxford English Dictionary finds this improbable) and ultimately imitative.

verb

1. (transitive)
   1. To cause (something) to make a rattling metallic sound.
   2. To express or say (something) in an argumentative or harsh manner.
   3. (figurative) To irritate or jar (something).
      The sound from the next apartment jangled my nerves.
2. (intransitive)
   1. To make a rattling metallic sound.
      A ſincere Heart that would ſerve God with his beſt, findeth more in a duty, than he could expect: and by Praying gets more of the fervency and Ardours of praying, as a Bell may be long a raiſing, but when it is up it jangleth not as it did at firſt. a. 1678, Tho[mas] Manton, “[The Transfiguration of Christ.] Sermon II.”, in Christs Temptation and Transfiguration, Practically Explained and Improved in Several Sermons, London: s.n.], published 1685, →OCLC, pages 43–44
      There is hardly a week without some saint in it who has to be commemorated, and often there are two in the same week, and sometimes three. I know when we have reached another saint, for then the church bells of the nearest village begin to jangle, and go on doing it every two hours. 1920, Elizabeth von Arnim], In the Mountains, Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company, page 43
   2. (archaic) To speak in an angry or harsh manner.
      What jangleſt thou Jedburgh? thou jags for nought, / There ſhal a guilful groom dwell thee within, / The towre that thou truſts in, as the truth is, / Shal be traced with a trace, trow thou none other: […] 1745, “The Prophesie of Waldhave”, in The Whole Prophecies of Scotland, England, France, Ireland and Denmark;[…], Edinburgh, London: […] M[ary] Cooper,[…], →OCLC, page 25
   3. (archaic) To quarrel verbally; to wrangle.
   4. (Northern England) Of a person: to speak loudly or too much; to chatter, to prate; of a bird: to make a noisy chattering sound.

Etymology 2

From Middle English jangle (“gossip, idle talk; a dispute”), from Anglo-Norman jangle and Old French jangle (“gossip, idle talk; a dispute”), from Old French jangler (“to chatter, gossip; to argue noisily; to bawl”): see further at etymology 1. Later uses are derived directly from the verb. Sense 3 (“sound typified by undistorted, treble-heavy electric guitars”) is said to derive from a line in the song Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan (born 1941): “Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, play a song for me / In the jingle jangle morning, I’ll come following you.”

noun

1. A rattling metallic sound; a clang.
   Jessamy tugged the scrolled iron bellpull which hung down on one side of the gate. Somewhere behind, she could hear an answering jangle. 1967, Barbara Sleigh, “The Holiday Aunt”, in Jessamy, 1st US edition, Indianapolis, Ind., Kansas City, Mo.: Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 8
2. (figurative)
   1. The sound of people talking noisily.
   2. (archaic) Arguing, contention, squabbling.
      But now Sir Peter if we have finish'd our daily Jangle I presume I may go to my engagement at Lady Sneerwell's? 1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, II.i
3. (music, attributively) A sound typified by undistorted, treble-heavy electric guitars, played in a droning chordal style, characteristic of 1960s folk rock and 1980s indie rock music.
   If you like ‘jangle guitar’—where the guitar parts are chordal, arpeggiated and rhythmic—listen to players like Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, Peter Buck with R.E.M. (Life’s Rich Pageant) or Johnny Marr with The Smiths (The Queen Is Dead). 2008, Rikky Rooksby, Play Great Guitar: Brilliant Ideas for Getting More out of Your Six-string, Oxford, Oxfordshire: The Infinite Ideas Company, page 228