rat-a-tat

[ rat-uh-tat or rat-uh-tat-tat ]

/ ˈræt əˈtæt or ˈræt əˌtætˈtæt /

a sound of knocking or rapping: a sharp rat-a-tat on the window.

Origin of rat-a-tat

First recorded in 1675–85; imitative

A lot of newspaper columns used to be written in a rat-a-tat-tat, fast-paced style—and they tended to be funny.

P.J. O’Rourke Joins The Daily Beast | |December 17, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
We started to climb the Ridge, and we were just coming through a churchyard when rat-a-tat-tat!

Into the Jaws of Death |Jack O'Brien
Each game he started against us he got the old “rat-a-tat-tat.”

Pitching in a Pinch |Christy Mathewson
So he stopped and tapped on the door, rat-a-tat-tat, very softly, you know.

Little Jack Rabbit and Chippy Chipmunk |David Cory

Over by the orchard, he could hear a flicker go "Rat-a-tat-tat," boring away at the old apple tree.

Half-Past Seven Stories |Robert Gordon Anderson
Rat-a-tat-tat at the first dim hint of dawn went the chamberlain's knuckles upon the door.

Master Skylark |John Bennett

rat-a-tat-tat

/ (ˈrætəˌtætˈtæt) /

the sound of knocking on a door