RAT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Rat

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Rat

noun

1.

Any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse.

2.

Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike. Synonyms: blackleg, scab, strikebreaker.

3.

A person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible. Synonyms: bum, crumb, dirty dog, git, lowlife, puke, rotter, scum bag, skunk, so-and-so, stinker, stinkpot. "Kill the rat" , "Throw the bum out" , "You cowardly little pukes!" , "The British call a contemptible person a 'git'"

4.

One who reveals confidential information in return for money. Synonyms: betrayer, blabber, informer, squealer.

5.

A pad (usually made of hair) worn as part of a woman's coiffure.

verb

(past & past part. ratted; pres. part. ratting)

1.

Desert one's party or group of friends, for example, for one's personal advantage.

2.

Employ scabs or strike breakers in.

3.

Take the place of work of someone on strike. Synonyms: blackleg, fink, scab.

4.

Give (hair) the appearance of being fuller by using a rat.

5.

Catch rats, especially with dogs.

6.

Give away information about somebody. Synonyms: betray, denounce, give away, grass, shit, shop, snitch, stag, tell on.

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Etymology of 'Rat'

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Rattus norvegicus

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WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Rat" Quotes from Famous Books

... remember—three or four years ago. It really never came to a public trial. He settled her infamous claim out of court. Her lawyers hounded him as if he were a rat." ...

— The Rose in the Ring • George Barr McCutcheon

... know how to get rid of rats in poultry-houses. One man says that he firmly believes that there are more rats than chickens in his poultry-house, and although he has tried half a dozen different kinds of rat-traps he rarely ...

— Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56: No. 1, January 5, 1884. - A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside • Various

... down and fish in the river. Herons are called cranes, and heronies are craneries. A determined sportsman, who used to eat every heron he could shoot in revenge for their ravages among the trout, at last became suspicious, and examining one, found in it the remains of a rat and of a toad, after which he did not eat any more. Another sportsman found a heron in the very act of gulping down a good-sized trout, which stuck in the gullet. He shot the heron and got the trout, which was not at all injured, only marked on each ...

— The Life of the Fields • Richard Jefferies

... that there was a rat in the nursery, and thus he forgot to tell her the wonderful news. It did not much matter, for Judy was only three and she would not have understood. But Punch was five; and he knew that going to England would be much nicer than ...

— Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II • Rudyard Kipling

... who, sleek and fat, Shiver at a Norway rat. Rough and hardy, bold and free, Be the cat that's made for me; He whose nervous paw can take My lady's lapdog by the neck, With furious hiss attack the hen, And snatch a chicken ...

— Americans and Others • Agnes Repplier

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