cro·tal bell (kr
ōt
l)
n. A small, enclosed, usually spherical bell or rattle having a loose pellet inside and one or more slits or other small openings in its surface.
[From French crotale, singular of crotales, clappers or from Latin crotalum, kind of clapper or castanet (French, from Latin), from Greek krotalon, clapper, castanet, from krotein, to strike, beat.]