ratchet
1a toothed bar with which a pawl engages.
(not in technical use) a pawl or the like used with a ratchet or ratchet wheel.
a mechanism consisting of such a bar or wheel with the pawl.
a steady progression up or down: the upward ratchet of oil prices.
to move by degrees (often followed by up or down): to ratchet prices up; Interest rates have been ratcheting downward.
Origin of ratchet
1Other definitions for ratchet (2 of 2)
flashy, unrefined, etc.; low-class: ratchet girls wearing too much makeup.
exhibiting or affirming low-class traits in a way that is considered authentic: Better to stay a ratchet bitch than become a bougie poser like her.
extremely good; awesome.
Origin of ratchet
2- Also ratched [racht] /rætʃt/ .
Other words from ratchet
- ratch·et·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use ratchet in a sentence
But what happens if the nanny turns out to be Nurse Ratched?
IRS, DOJ, and Benghazi Expose Limits of Obama’s Big-Government Vision | Stuart Stevens | May 15, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThis is what happens in the ward, after all, where the patients wage an insurgency against Nurse Ratched and her staff.
Ken Kesey’s Wars: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” at 50 | Nathaniel Rich | July 26, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTEven Nurse Ratched, we are told in passing, received her training as an Army nurse.
Ken Kesey’s Wars: “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” at 50 | Nathaniel Rich | July 26, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe effect was Grace Kelly meets Nurse Ratched—timeless elegance meets intimidating toughness.
The big balloon gossamer came rattling down the long stay and the jaws of the booms ratched, fore and main, as they swung over.
The Seiners | James B. (James Brendan) Connolly
On the inside of each wheel were ratched teeth that fitted into corresponding teeth on horizontal racks above and below the hub.
Automobile Biographies | Lyman Horace Weeks
British Dictionary definitions for ratchet
/ (ˈrætʃɪt) /
a device in which a toothed rack or wheel is engaged by a pawl to permit motion in one direction only
the toothed rack or wheel forming part of such a device
to operate using a ratchet
(usually foll by up or down) to increase or decrease, esp irreversibly: electricity prices will ratchet up this year; Hitchcock ratchets up the tension once again
Origin of ratchet
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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