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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.
4.
Slang.
a.
a person who abandons or betrays his or her party or associates, especially in a time of trouble.
b.
an informer.
c.
a scab laborer.
5.
EXPANDSlang. a person who frequents a specified place: a mall rat; gym rats.
6.
COLLAPSEa 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.)
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Smell a rat
is always a great word to know.
So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
verb (used without object)
8.
Slang.
a.
to desert one's party or associates, especially 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)
Idiom10.
to dress (the hair) with or as if with a rat.
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:
before 1000; Middle English rat(t)e, Old English ræt; cognate with Dutch rat, German Ratz, Ratte
before 1000; Middle English rat(t)e, Old English ræt; cognate with Dutch rat, German Ratz, Ratte
Related forms
rat·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To smell a rat
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
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
EXPANDthe 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.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
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.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
smell a rat definition
To sense foul play: “They claim they will honor the terms of the contract, but I smell a rat.”
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
rat (on (so)) definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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smell a rat definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
smell a rat
Suspect something is wrong, especially a betrayal of some kind. For example, When I didn't hear any more from my prospective employer, I began to smell a rat. This expression alludes to a cat sniffing out a rat. [c. 1550]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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