ratcatcher

[ rat-kach-er ]

noun
  1. a person, animal, or thing that catches and exterminates rats, especially a person whose business it is to rid a property of rats.

  2. Chiefly British. an informal fox-hunting costume, as a tweed jacket and tan riding breeches.

Origin of ratcatcher

1
First recorded in 1585–95; rat + catcher

Words Nearby ratcatcher

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ratcatcher in a sentence

  • A friend of mine used to call it, not inaptly, ‘the ratcatcher style’.

    Archaic England | Harold Bayley
  • One day a stranger came saying he was a ratcatcher, and offered to rid the place of the vermin for a sum of money.

  • There is associated with Buckingham Palace a most worthy and useful individual called the ratcatcher.

  • Everybody can see why in such a vast and generally untenanted barrack, there should be a ratcatcher.

  • There is no reason whatever why a whole evening should not be spent in the discussion of the ratcatcher's salary.

British Dictionary definitions for rat-catcher

rat-catcher

noun
  1. a person whose job is to destroy or drive away vermin, esp rats

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012