rat definition | Dictionary.com

rat

[rat]

noun, interjection, verb, rat⋅ted, rat⋅ting.

–noun

1.	any of several long-tailed rodents of the family Muridae, of the genus Rattus and related genera, distinguished from the mouse by being larger.

2.	any of various similar or related animals.

3.	Slang. a scoundrel.

Slang.

a.	a person who abandons or betrays his or her party or associates, esp. in a time of trouble.

b.	an informer.

c.	a scab laborer.

5.	Slang. a person who frequents a specified place: a mall rat; gym rats.

6.	a pad with tapered ends formerly used in women's hair styles to give the appearance of greater thickness.

–interjection

7.	rats, Slang. (an exclamation of disappointment, disgust, or disbelief.)

–verb (used without object)

Slang.

a.	to desert one's party or associates, esp. in a time of trouble.

b.	to turn informer; squeal: He ratted on the gang, and the police arrested them.

c.	to work as a scab.

9.	to hunt or catch rats.

–verb (used with object)

10.	to dress (the hair) with or as if with a rat.

—Idiom

11.	smell a rat, to suspect or surmise treachery; have suspicion: After noting several discrepancies in his client's story, the attorney began to smell a rat.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME rat(t)e, OE ræt; c. D rat, G Ratz, Ratte

Related forms:

ratlike, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source

Link To rat

Terminix® Rodent Control
Protect Your Home From Rodents & Pests For Less Than $1 A Day!
www.Terminix.com

Rats Control
Exterminator Specializing In Rodent Control. Call For Free Estimate!

www.A-1WatkinsPestControl.com

rat (rāt)

1. Any of various long-tailed rodents resembling mice but larger, especially one of the genus Rattus.
2. Any of various animals similar to one of these long-tailed rodents.
3. A despicable person, especially one who betrays or informs upon associates.
4. A scab laborer.
Slang
1. A despicable person, especially one who betrays or informs upon associates.
2. A scab laborer.
A pad of material, typically hair, worn as part of a woman's coiffure to puff out her own hair.

v. rat·ted, rat·ting, rats

v. intr.

To hunt for or catch rats, especially with the aid of dogs.
Slang To betray one's associates by giving information: ratted on his best friend to the police.
Slang To work as a scab laborer.

v. tr.
To puff out (the hair) with or as if with a pad of material.

[Middle English, from Old English ræt; see rēd- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Rat

Rat\, n. [AS. r[ae]t; akin to D. rat, OHG. rato, ratta, G. ratte, ratze, OLG. ratta, LG. & Dan. rotte, Sw. r[*a]tta, F. rat, Ir. & Gael radan, Armor. raz, of unknown origin. Cf. Raccoon.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) One of the several species of small rodents of the genus Mus and allied genera, larger than mice, that infest houses, stores, and ships, especially the Norway, or brown, rat (M. Alexandrinus). These were introduced into Anerica from the Old World.

2. A round and tapering mass of hair, or similar material, used by women to support the puffs and rolls of their natural hair. [Local, U.S.]

3. One who deserts his party or associates; hence, in the trades, one who works for lower wages than those prescribed by a trades union. [Cant]

Note: "It so chanced that, not long after the accession of the house of Hanover, some of the brown, that is the German or Norway, rats, were first brought over to this country (in some timber as is said); and being much stronger than the black, or, till then, the common, rats, they in many places quite extirpated the latter. The word (both the noun and the verb to rat) was first, as we have seen, leveled at the converts to the government of George the First, but has by degrees obtained a wide meaning, and come to be applied to any sudden and mercenary change in politics." --Lord Mahon.

Bamboo rat (Zo["o]l.), any Indian rodent of the genus Rhizomys.

Beaver rat, Coast rat. (Zo["o]l.) See under Beaver and Coast.

Blind rat (Zo["o]l.), the mole rat.

Cotton rat (Zo["o]l.), a long-haired rat (Sigmodon hispidus), native of the Southern United States and Mexico. It makes its nest of cotton and is often injurious to the crop.

Ground rat. See Ground Pig, under Ground.

Hedgehog rat. See under Hedgehog.

Kangaroo rat (Zo["o]l.), the potoroo.

Norway rat (Zo["o]l.), the common brown rat. See Rat.

Pouched rat. (Zo["o]l.) (a) See Pocket Gopher, under Pocket. (b) Any African rodent of the genus Cricetomys.

Rat Indians (Ethnol.), a tribe of Indians dwelling near Fort Ukon, Alaska. They belong to Athabascan stock.

Rat mole. (Zo["o]l.) See Mole rat, under Mole.

Rat pit, an inclosed space into which rats are put to be killed by a dog for sport.

Rat snake (Zo["o]l.), a large colubrine snake (Ptyas mucosus) very common in India and Ceylon. It enters dwellings, and destroys rats, chickens, etc.

Spiny rat (Zo["o]l.), any South America rodent of the genus Echinomys.

To smell a rat. See under Smell.

Wood rat (Zo["o]l.), any American rat of the genus Neotoma, especially N. Floridana, common in the Southern United States. Its feet and belly are white.

Rat

Rat\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ratted; p. pr. & vb. n. Ratting.]

1. In English politics, to desert one's party from interested motives; to forsake one's associates for one's own advantage; in the trades, to work for less wages, or on other conditions, than those established by a trades union.

Coleridge . . . incurred the reproach of having ratted, solely by his inability to follow the friends of his early days. --De Quincey.

2. To catch or kill rats.

Language Translation for : rat

Spanish: rata,

German: die Ratte,

Japanese: ねずみ

More Translations »

rat

O.E. ræt. Similar words in Celtic (Gael. radan), Romance (It. ratto, Sp. rata, Fr. rat) and Gmc. (M.L.G. rotte, Ger. ratte) languages, but connection is uncertain and origin unknown. Perhaps from V.L. *rattus, but Weekley thinks this is of Gmc. origin, "the animal having come from the East with the race-migrations" and the word passing thence to the Romanic languages. American Heritage and Tucker connect O.E. ræt to L. rodere and thus PIE *red- "to scrape, scratch, gnaw," source of rodent (q.v.). Klein says there is no connection and suggests a possible cognate in Gk. rhine "file, rasp." Weekley connects them with a question mark and Barnhart writes, "the relationship to each other of the Germanic, Romance, and Celtic words for rat is uncertain." OED says "probable" the rat word spread from Germanic to Romance, but takes no position on ultimate origin. M.E. common form was ratton, from augmented O.Fr. form raton. Sense of "one who abandons his associates" (1629) is from belief that rats leave a ship about to sink or a house about to fall and led to meaning "traitor, informant" (1902; verb 1910). Interjection rats is Amer.Eng., 1886. To smell a rat is c.1550. Rat-race "competitive struggle" is 1939. Ratsbane (1523) is arsenic. Rat fink is teen slang from 1963. Rathole in fig. sense of "nasty, messy place" first attested 1812. _____-rat, "person who frequents _____" (in earliest ref. dock-rat) is from 1864. Rat-pack "juvenile gang" is from 1951.

Main Entry: rat
Pronunciation: 'rat
Function: noun
: any of the numerous rodents (family Muridae) of Rattus and related genera that differ from themurid mice by their usually considerably larger size and by features of the teeth and other structures and that include forms (as the brown rat, the black rat, and the roof rat) which live in and abouthuman habitations and in ships, have become naturalized by commerce in most parts of the world, and are destructive pests consuming or destroying vast quantities of food and other goods and acting asvectors of various diseases (as bubonic plague)

rat (rāt)
n.
Any of various long-tailed rodents of the genus Rattus and related genera, including certain strains used in scientific research and certain species that are vectors for various diseases.

rat

In addition to the idioms beginning with rat, also see like a drowned rat; smell a rat.

RAT
right anterior thigh

Search another word or see rat on Thesaurus | Reference

Control Rats Now.
Control Rats & Save up to 70% on Professional Pest Control Products.
www.pestcontrolsupplies.com

How To Kill Rats & Mice
FREE Info - Pro Quality Products Do It Yourself and Save!
www.epestsupply.com

Rat Los Angeles
Ratt Tickets. Sold Out? Not at StubHub. Buy Now.

www.StubHub.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Advertise with Us · Link to Us · NASCAR® · Contact Us