| 释义 |
▪ I. rat, n.1|ræt|
Forms: 1 ræt, 4–6 ratte, 6 ratt, 5– rat.
[OE. ræt (once) = Du. rat, MHG. rat (G. ratz), masc.; also OLG. ratta, OHG. ratte (G. ratte, ratze), fem., and OHG. ratto m.; = F. rat m., rate f., Sp., Pg. rato, obs. It. ratto, med.L. ratus, rattus.
The ultimate origin of the word is uncertain, but it seems probable that it was adopted first in the Teutonic languages when the animal came to be known in western Europe, and thence passed into the Romance tongues. Forms with o occur in the LG. and Scand. languages as well as in English: see rottan, rotte. The most usual form in ME. was raton, -oun, ratton.]
1. a. A rodent of some of the larger species of the genus Rattus, esp. R. rattus, the black rat (now almost extinct), and R. norvegicus, the common grey, brown, or Norway rat. (See also land-, musk-, water-rat.)
c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 118/41 Fiber..befer. Raturus, ræt. Lutria, otor. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. Prol. 200 Had ȝe rattes ȝoure wille ȝe couthe nouȝt reule ȝoureselue. c1450Myrc Par. Priest 1897 Ȝef hyt were eten wyth mows or rat, Dere þow moste a-bygge þat. 1561J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 119 They bewray themselues lyke a Ratte wyth theyr owne vtteraunce. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 44 What if my house be troubled with a Rat. 1610― Temp. i. ii. 147 Nor tackle, sayle, nor mast, the very rats Instinctiuely haue quit it. 1625Bacon Ess., Wisd. for Man's Self (Arb.) 187 It is the Wisedome of Rats, that will be sure to leaue a House, somewhat before it fall. 1726Gay Fables ii. viii. 87 Rats and mice purloin our grain. 1759Ann. Reg. 123/1 A large Norway rat. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 66 The Great Rat... It is chiefly in the colour that this animal differs from the Black Rat, or the Common Rat, as it was once called, but now common no longer. 1820Shelley Œd. Tyr. i. 183 Rats, when lean enough To crawl through such chinks. 1843Dieffenbach Trav. New Z. II. 185 There exists a frugiferous native rat. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. ii. ix. (ed. 2) 201 The black rat, so rare in England, is common in Alderney and Herm.
fig.1855Smedley H. Coverdale iii. 14 A pair of little hopping rats of ponies. 1875Buckland Log-Book 204 Crabs are, in fact, the rats of the ocean. 1888Kipling Letters of Marque (1891) xv. 111 Ram Baksh..headed his two thirteen-hand rats straight towards the morning sun. 1900R. Barr Unchanging East 258 The Turkish Government has a little rat of a boat..which dare not venture out in a storm. 1907J. Masefield Tarpaulin Muster 186 ‘I've been looking for truth,’ he says; ‘looking for truth in all these books... There's not a rat of truth in one of them. Not a solid rat, there isn't.’ 1977Best of Austral. Angler 12/2 Earlier, Col Noakes and myself had landed some 10 kg kings—comparative ‘rats’ that chased bait past all day.
b. transf. Applied to animals of other species resembling the rat, esp. the North American musk-rat, Ondatra zibethica, of the family Cricetidæ, an aquatic rodent hunted for its thick brown fur; also, the pelt of this animal or its flesh used as food.
† rat of Inde, the ichneumon. † rat of Surinam, the phalanger. marsupial rat, an opossum. Pharaoh's rat, the ichneumon (cf. OF. rat de Fareon in Marco Polo). Norway rat or Norwegian rat, the lemming.
1584Hakluyt Discourse concerning Westerne Planting in Maine Hist. Soc. Coll. (1877) II. 27 There is greate store of..bevers, squirrells, badgers, and ratts excedinge greate. 1598Sylvester Du Bartas i. vi. 272 So Pharoah's Rat, yer he begin the fray 'Gainst the blinde Aspicke. 1601Holland Pliny I. 303 Rats of Inde, called Ichneumones. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Leming, the name of a creature of the rat kind, called by authors mus Norwegicus, the Norway rat. 1774Goldsmith Nat. Hist. (1862) I. vii. i. 515 The Philanger..is about the size of a rat, and has, accordingly, by some, been called the Rat of Surinam. 1800A. N. McLeod Jrnl. 18 Nov. in C. M. Gates Five Fur Traders (1933) 130 The first paid his Debt, the next gave 40 Ratts en present. 1824S. Black Jrnl. Voy. from Rocky Mountain Portage (1955) 153 Saw no appearance of the Otter, Rat or Mink. 1863H. W. Bates Naturalist on R. Amazons ix. (ed. 2) 260 A beautiful opossum:..this made the third species of marsupial rat I had so far obtained. 1882Edmonton Bull. 18 Feb. 3/2 They are living principally on rats and jackfish from Buffalo Lake. 1886Riverside Nat. Hist. V. 442 Pharaoh's Rat..feeds to a great extent upon the eggs of the crocodile. [1886Pall Mall G. 14 Sept. 1/1 On the suicidal principles of Norwegian ratdom.] 1944J. Martin Canad. Wilderness Trapping 48 It is the food which makes the pelt..and in the northwest we get the best rats. 1946Sun (Baltimore) 15 Nov. 18/3 The ‘rats’ referred to are, of course, the musk-rats of the rich Dorchester marshes. 1953Jessen's Weekly 19 Feb. 5/2. The trapping of Beaver and muskrat in the Huslia area does not show much promise as the ice is from three to six feet thick in the rivers and lakes... Many of the rats have been frozen in.
2. In phrases:
a. to smell a rat, to suspect something.
a1550Image Hypocr. i. 51 in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 414/2 Yf they smell a ratt, They grisely chide and chatt. 16022nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. ii. 1272 Ile say no more, gesse at my meaning, I smel a rat. 1660Shirley Androm. ii. ii. 14, I smell a Rat sir, there's jugling in this business. 1736[Chetwood] Voy. Vaughan I. 170, I ask'd her so many Questions, that, tho' a Woman ignorant enough, she began to smell a Rat. 1840Lytton Paul Clifford xxxiv, Whew! I small a rat; this stolen child, then, was no other than Paul. 1894Howells in Harper's Mag. Feb. 377 He'll be sure to smell a rat if I'm with you.
b. like (or as wet as) a drowned rat.
c1500[see drowned 1 b]. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 180 b, An hedde he had..Three heares on a side, like a drouned ratte. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. iv. 70 The Storm..drencht us all like so many drowned Rats. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. III. 14 Oct. Let. iv, I was dragged out of a river like a drowned rat. 1880[see drowned].
c. (as) drunk, poor, † rank, or weak, as a rat.
1538Bale Thre Lawes 835 The monkes were fatte And ranke as a ratte. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 128 As if one had..kepte the Tauerne till he had been as dronke as a Ratte. 1661Merry Drollerie i. 17 Drunk as a Rat, you'd hardly wot That drinking so he could trudge it. 1833Marryat P. Simple xxxi, He's as poor as a rat. 1840P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 186 Weak as a rat, and no appetite.
d. With reference to the alleged killing or expulsion of Irish rats by riming. Cf. rime v.
1600Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 188, I was neuer so berim'd since..I was an Irish Rat. 1625B. Jonson Staple of News 4th Interm., The fine Madrigall-man, in rime, to haue runne him o' the Countrey, like an Irish rat. 1660(title) Rats Rhimed to Death, or, The Rump-Parliament Hang'd up in the Shambles. 1735Pope Donne Sat. ii. 22 Songs no longer move; No rat is rhym'd to death, nor maid to love.
e. slang (orig. U.S.). Used ironically in pl. to express incredulity: ‘humbug’, ‘nonsense’. Also as a general expression of disgust, annoyance, etc.
1886Lantern (New Orleans) 20 Oct. 5/2 What a rotten game. Rats! 1888Texas Siftings 7 Jan. 5/2 Smaller Boy—‘Let me shine 'em up, Sir; for I have to support a poor little sick brother at home who is lame and can't see.’ Bigger Boy—‘Rats! I'm that poor little sick brother myself.’ 1890Spectator Sept. 409/2 (quoting Puck) ‘Why, what did he say when you told him of it?’—‘Oh! just—‘Rats!’’ 1897Outing (U.S.) XXX. 484/1 ‘A miss, by Jove’. ‘Oh, rats’, cries another onlooker. 1901S. R. Crockett Cinderella xxvii. 188 ‘My cousin has lessons along with the younger children.’ ‘Rats!’ declared Vic, smiling broadly; ‘she sees that they do theirs—that's more like it.’ 1914G. B. Shaw Misalliance 23 Mrs. Tarleton. Dont boast, John. Dont tempt Providence. Tarleton. Rats! You dont understand Providence. Providence likes to be tempted. 1951J. Cornish Provincials i. ii. 21 ‘I don't kiss girls,’ I said hurriedly. ‘I never kiss girls. Never.’ ‘Oh, rats!’ 1976National Observer (U.S.) 21 Feb. 9/2 About a day later another letter from the company turned up in my mailbox. Rats, I thought, they have discovered their mistake and are going to take all the fun out of my life. 1977New Yorker 27 June 30/3 Rats, you sound like a sorority pledge at Sophie Newcomb College.
f. to give (a person) rats: to give (him) a hard time; to berate, rebuke. orig. U.S.
1863Sunday Herald (Boston) 15 Feb. 4/1 Hooker is doing something in the way of giving the rebels ‘rats’. 1869‘Mark Twain’ Sk. New & Old (1875) 48 You may write a blistering article on the police—give the Chief Inspector rats. 1940F. D. Davison Woman at Mill III. 245 She was now going to give me rats, treat me as if I were personally responsible for the short-comings of the land of my birth.
g. to get (or have) a rat (or rats): to be eccentric or insane. Austral. and N.Z. slang.
[1890Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang II. 171/2 (American), ‘to have rats’, to have wild or eccentric fancies.] 1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands vii. 84 The factory flat loudly asserted that Spats had ‘got a rat’. 1908H. Fletcher Dads & Dan 65 In a town a whole population gets rats together, an' though they's all clean daft at times, yet, 'cause they all thinks alike, they don't doubt they's sane. c1926‘Mixer’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 12 ‘Lend us a quid!’ ‘Lend you a what! Blime, have you got a rat?’
h. rats and mice: rhyming slang for ‘dice’; a game of dice.
1932P. P. Rhyming Slang 23 Rats and mice, dice. 1938F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xv. 170 We used to play dice with them... Rats and Mice the game was called.
3. a. Used as an opprobrious or familiar epithet.
1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. iii. 331 These famish'd Beggers..Who..For want of meanes (poore Rats) had hang'd themselues. 1629Earle Microcosm. (Arb.) 98 One that nick-names Clergymen with all the termes of reproch, as Rat, Black-coate, and the like. c1656Roxb. Ball. (1886) VI. 106 No Female Rat shall me deceive, nor catch me by a crafty wild. 1830Hood Drop of Gin iii, Hardly acknowledged by kith and kin, Because, poor rat! He has no cravat. 1888Stevenson Black Arrow 29 Ha! Clipsby, are ye there, old rat! 1901G. B. Shaw Caesar & Cleopatra iv. 188 Now, by great Jove, you filthy little Egyptian rat, that is the very word to make him walk out alone into the city. 1927,1928[see double-crosser s.v. double-cross, double cross 1]. 1929[see fink n.2]. 1945S. Lewis Cass Timberlane xliii. 324 The sort of male once described with relish as ‘an agreeable scoundrel’..could now be referred to..as..a louse, a stinker, a rat, a twirp, a crumb, or a goon. 1959[see fink n.2]. 1976Western Mail (Cardiff) 27 Nov., He turned to a group of policemen and said, ‘I hope you are satisfied, you rats.’ 1977Rolling Stone 16 June 43/3 This is the terrible part of me, it's awful and I'm really a rat.
b. Preceded by a specifying n., applied to one who is associated with or frequents the place specified (originally esp. a dock or riverside: in this context occas. without defining word); see also rink-rat (rink n.2 5), river rat (river n.1 5 e), wharf-rat (b) (wharf n.1 3). Chiefly U.S.
1864Harper's Mag. Feb. 341/1 At our swimming-place we were often much molested by the river-border citizens of the town, variously known as ‘dock-rats’ and ‘townies’. 1870Scribner's Monthly I. 41 Many of the inmates.., as ‘dock-rats’, house-thieves, peace-breakers, and horse-stealers, have grown preternaturally quick-witted. 1872Harper's Mag. Oct. 673/2 Our business is with those smaller, but terribly annoying vermin, the ‘dock rats’, with the river thieves, and with the junk-shops. 1883J. Greenwood Tag, Rag, & Co. 33 Then, again, there's the regler ‘rats’. How many of them, sneaking about craft at anchor,..make a slip and get drowned? Ibid. 35 He was drowned, and carried away with the tide, and it wasn't till a week after that the ‘rats’..fell in with the body and robbed it. 1890[see extra C. n. b]. 1928H. Asbury Gangs of New York xi. 240 The police found him in company with a gang of notorious little dock rats. 1962N. Maxwell Witch-Doctor's Apprentice iii. 25, I..gathered a lot of information on jungle medicine. I spent hours in bars buying aguardiente (local rum) for old jungle rats. 1967Boston Sunday Herald 14 May (This Week Mag.) 2/2 As a kid, I was an airport rat. I rode my bike to the airport, 15 miles each way, and I would hang around and help. 1978K. Bonfiglioli All Tea in China iii. vi. 80 A gaggle of waterfront rats, wasters, the scum of the sea.
4. spec.
†a. A pirate. Obs.
[1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 23.] 1673Hobbes Odyss. xv. 371 Phaenician Merchants, Rats, then thither came. Ibid. xvi. 61 Thesprotian rats got him aboard their ship.
†b. (See quots.) Obs.
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Rat, a Drunken Man or Woman taken up by the Watch, and carried..to the Counter. 1781R. King Mod. Lond. Spy 38 Men taken up for assaults or night-brawls were termed Rats.
c. In Politics: One who deserts his party.
(From the alleged fact that rats leave a house about to fall or a ship about to sink: see sense 1, quots. 1610, 1625.)
1792Earl Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. II. 477 This would..pronounce..us..as having differed with him, and, of course, become rats and deserters. 1823Bentham Not Paul but Jesus 199 In a word, in the language of modern party, Silas was a rat. 1888H. D. Traill Will. III, i. (1892) 7 Charles transformed himself, with more than the celerity of the nimblest modern rat [etc.].
d. A workman who refuses to strike along with others, or takes a striker's place; also (esp. among printers), one who works for lower wages than the ordinary (or trade-union) rate. Chiefly U.S.
1824[see rat-printer, sense 7 e below]. 1836Proc. Nat. Typogr. Convention, Washington 4 Martin H. Andrews..has been recognised as being one of the individuals published on the Rat List of the Columbia Typographical Society. Ibid. 11 Men pronounced Rats by one society, shall be considered such by all others. 1851Proc. 1st Nat. Convention Journeymen Printers U.S., 1850 11 The present system is prolific of ‘rats’. Our trade should be purged of this vermin. 1868Oregon State Jrnl. 17 Oct. 1/6 The President of the National Typographical Union has pronounced a general amnesty, by virtue of which all expelled members, ‘rats’, etc., will be admitted to the Unions. 1881American No. 73. 181 The men who agree to go into the strike are always the more united and determined class. The rats who refuse suffer accordingly. 1892Nation 11 Aug. 96/2 This orator declared..that ‘rats’ were still employed in the Tribune office. 1896Typographical Jrnl. IX. 100 A force of rats were doubled up from the Evening Ledger to get out the paper. 1902Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 411/1 A strike occurred in Mr Weed's office in 1821 on account of the employment of a non-union man, who was then designated a ‘rat’.
e. U.S. A new student or freshman, esp. a newly-recruited cadet.
1850‘M. Tensas’ Odd Leaves Life Louisiana ‘Swamp Doctor’ 113 There were four or five brother ‘Rats’ besides myself residing in the hospital, all candidates for graduation, and..all desirous of obtaining sufficient medical lore. 1896Bomb (Virginia Military Institution) 109 An unfortunate ‘Rat’ whose face was glum, As he often to himself did hum—Guard Duty. 1900Dialect Notes I. 54 Rat, a new student. 1930Amer. Speech VI. 129 The freshman class at this institution [sc. Alabama Polytechnic Institute] is known as ‘The Rats’, and any given member is a ‘rat’. 1937W. Couper in J. E. Johnston Echoes of V.M.I. 43 One of the recollections of every Rat is the comforter who goes through the barracks purring—‘Mister, do you see that tree? Well, all the leaves have got to go, and all the leaves have got to come back, before you..’ and you know the rest. 1939W. Faulkner Wild Palms 35 ‘This is Rat,’ she said. ‘He is the senior living ex-freshman of the University of Alabama. That's why we still call him Rat.’ 1951Time 28 May 50/2 Of all the cadets, the ‘rats’ of the entering class have the roughest time.
f. A police informer; an informer in a prison. slang.
1902Farmer & Henley Slang V. 376/1 Rat... 6. (thieves').—A police spy. 1917New Republic 13 Jan. 294/1 In most cases they were ‘rats’, and the best tools the keepers had. 1929[see heel n.3]. 1970G. Jackson Let. 22 Mar. in Soledad Brother (1971) 186 You see every time a rat does get put away, the prison authorities always release a different reason for the attack, never that he was an informer. 1977New Yorker 24 Oct. 72/3 Like all prisons, Green Haven is run with the help of informers—‘rats’... One way..of rewarding rats is with jobs.
5. Something resembling a rat in shape.
a. U.S. A hair-pad with tapering ends.
1869Mrs. Whitney We Girls v. (1874) 98 She can't buy coils and braids and two-dollar rats. 1888Century Mag. Sept. 769/1 The crescent shaped pillows on which it [hair] was put up, the startling names of which were ‘rats’ and ‘mice’.
b. A plumber's tool.
1894Times 27 Jan. 7/5 Some of the company's men..were using a red-hot plug or ‘rat’.
6. [f. rat v.] The act of changing one's side.
1838Lytton Alice v. ii, Political factions love converts... A man's rise in life generally dates from a well-timed rat.
7. attrib. and Comb.
a. attributive, as rat-cage, rat-fur, rat-haunt, rat-horde, rat kind, rat-land, rat-leather, rat pie, rat-plague, rat poison, rat-preserve, rat-season, rat-skin, rat-terrier, rat-warren; (sense 4 e ) rat rule.
1936J. Steinbeck In Dubious Battle ii. 21, I did hate being in the *rat-cage. 1977P. Dickinson Walking Dead i. i. 17 The neat rank of rat-cages in the animal room.
1907Daily Chron. 24 Aug. 4/7 The hair was gathered up, chignon-fashion, and tied behind with strings made of *rat-fur.
1654Gayton Pleas. Notes iv. v. 200 Mine Host wondred with himselfe, where the *Rat-haunt should be.
a1930D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 189 In the moment of choice, the soul..utterly fails to recognize any more the grey *rat-hordes of classes and masses.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Leming, the name of a creature of the *rat kind.
1955J. R. R. Tolkien Return of King v. x. 166 Dwarf-coat, elf-cloak, blade of the downfallen West, and spy from the little *rat-land of the Shire.
1879Goode Catal. Anim. Resources & Fisheries U.S. 214 *Rat leather, used for thumbs of kid gloves.
1812Southey Omniana I. 25 *Rat pye would be as good as Rook pye.
1936I. L. Idriess Cattle King (caption facing p. 50) These birds, in immense numbers, harry the ‘*rat plagues’ which occur occasionally in portions of the interior.
1844Stephens Bk. Farm III. 1296 A pot of..*rat poison.
1848Zoologist VI. 2054 They were the lords of the *rat-preserve in the barn.
1933Sun (Baltimore) 8 Nov. 20/3 The sophomore victory..meant that the freshmen would continue to wear little red caps and obey ‘*rat’ rules. 1939Amer. Speech XIV. 29 Rat, new cadet, recruit... Rat rules,.. see recruit regulations.
1921Beaver May 14 *The rat season closes today. All the hunters are now in.
1812Southey Omniana I. 26 *Rat-skin robes for the ladies would be beautiful. 1893Westm. Gaz. 22 June 3/3 The length of the largest rat-skin, when dressed, is seven to eight inches.
1851Mayhew Lond. Lab. II. 55 The cost of a bull-dog, or a bull-terrier or *rat-terrier.
1886M. E. Braddon One Thing Needful iv, Rooms that only serve as a *rat-warren.
b. Objective, and obj. genitive, as rat-catching, rat-charmer, rat-hunting, rat-killer, rat-killing, † rat-taker. See also rat-catcher.
1764Museum Rust. I. 392 Those who professedly follow the art of *rat-catching. 1825in Hone Every-day Bk. I. (1859) 291 My terriers—ratcatching Busy, Snap, and Nimbletoes.
1860Marryat Horace Jutland II. 280 The *rat-charmer..must be sadly wanted in these parts.
1810E. Weeton Let. 18 Jan. in Jrnl. of Governess (1969) I. 223, I set out on my *rat-hunting expedition. a1817Jane Austen Persuasion (1818) IV. x. 229 We had a famous set-to at rat-hunting all the morning. 1851Mayhew Lond. Lab. II. 56/2 The main sport now..in which dogs are the agents is rat-hunting. 1966Beaver Winter 54/1 All the different Indians started back to their own countries for rat [sc. muskrat] hunting.
1538Elyot, Muricidus.., a *rat killer. 1851Mayhew Lond. Lab. II. 56/2 As a rat-killer, a ferret is not to be compared to a dog.
1851–61in Mayhew Lond. Lab. (1865) II. 491/1 Take the tax off *rat-killing dogs, and give a legality to rat-killing.
c1500Cocke Lorell's B. 10 Mole sekers, and *ratte takers. 1538Arundel MS. 97 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. ii. 109 Iohn Willis, the Kingis rattaker.
c. Instrumental, as rat-borne, rat-deserted, rat-eaten, rat-gnawn, rat-infested, rat-inhabited, rat-ridden, rat-riddled adjs.
1928Moderna Sprȧk Sept. 187 Terms like..mother-craft, *rat-borne diseases, wholemeal bread. 1938Sun (Baltimore) 1 Nov. 22/2 To protect the public health and to prevent the spread of rat-borne disease.
1859Helps Friends in Council Ser. ii. (ed. 2) I. 11 Sordid, window-broken, *rat-deserted..houses.
1901‘L. Malet’ Hist. R. Calmady i. viii. 69 The fusty atmosphere of a cottage garret, right up under the *rat-eaten thatch. 1951P. Abrahams Wild Conquest 49 He had a funny, rat-eaten beard.
1860Wynter Curiosities of Civilisation 137 The *rat-gnawn ivory is selected by the turner as fitted for billiard balls.
1840Dickens Old C. Shop iv, A small *rat-infested dreary yard. 1916E. & O. Sitwell 20th Cent. Harlequinade 23 On to that rat-infested maze. 1974Country Life 14 Mar. 588/1 The pond was a rat-infested rubbish tip.
1832Carlyle Goethe's Wks. Misc. (1840) IV. 198 Ancient rotten *rat-inhabited walls.
1870Dickens E. Drood i, Some *rat-ridden doorkeeper.
1855Browning Master Hugues xxix, Your rotten-planked *rat-riddled stairs.
d. Similative, as rat-brained, rat-coloured, rat-eyed, rat-faced, rat-fat, rat-grey, rat-like, rat-poor, rat-shrewd, rat-souled, rat-swift, rat-toothed adjs.
1971B. Malamud Tenants 75 Those *rat-brained Jews.
1633Massinger Guardian ii. iv, Their *rat-coloured stockings. 1834Tait's Mag. I. 518/2 Yellow or blue, Piebald or rat-coloured.
1866J. Greenwood in Evening Star 19 Mar., A *rat-eyed, slim-limbed thief.
1862H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 45 note, This *rat-faced lady.
1930E. Sitwell Coll. Poems 256 To show the same Of the *rat-fat soul to the grinning day.
1937E. Muir Coll. Poems (1960) 71 The light was *rat-grey.
1846Waterhouse Nat. Hist. Mamm. I. 225 Its *rat-like tail. 1857Borrow Romany Rye (1858) II. 73 The rat-like eyes sparkled.
1952J. Steinbeck East of Eden ii. 9 A man who might have been well-to-do on ten acres in Europe was *rat-poor on two thousand in California.
1960S. Plath Colossus (1967) 63 *Rat-shrewd go her squint eyes.
1921R. Graves Pier-Glass 49 Was Sisera then more ripe for the knife or nail Than *rat-soul'd Becker?
1969G. Macbeth War Quartet 61 Air gushed in..*Rat-swift.
1930S. Spender Twenty Poems 14 And older whores Skuttle *rat-toothed into the dark outdoors.
e. Special combs., as rat-bat W. Indies = bat n.1; rat-bean, a species of caper (Capparis frondosa); rat-bird, the striated bush-babbler (Chattarrhœa caudata); rat-bite fever, either of two similar fevers of which the bacteria causing it are carried by rodents; rat cheese U.S. colloq. = mousetrap n. 2; rat-clam, dial. a rat-trap; rat-firm, a firm which employs ‘rats’ or non-union workmen; rat-fish, a fish of the family Chimæridæ, characterized by a long tail, esp. Hydrolagus colliei, which is found off the Pacific coast of North America; rat flea, a flea infesting rats, esp. Nosopsyllus fasciatus or the tropical Xenopsylla cheopis, which are vectors of the bacillus causing plague; rat-fucker coarse slang, a base, despicable person (see also quot. 19671); rat-hare = lagomys; rat-house, (a) a printing-house in which ‘rats’ are employed; (b) Austral. and N.Z. slang, a lunatic asylum; rat-hunt, a hunt for rats; also fig.; rat-kangaroo = kangaroo-rat, a very small kangaroo belonging to the subfamily Potoroinæ; rat-labour (see quot. and 4 d above); rat-mole = mole-rat; rat-office = rat-house; rat pack slang (orig. U.S.), a gang of disorderly young people; rat-pill, a pill used in rat-catching; rat-pit, a pit in which rats are confined to be worried by dogs; rat-poison, poison for destroying rats; also spec. (see quot. 1848); rat-printer = sense 4 d; rat-proof a., able to keep out rats; hence rat-proofing vbl. n.; rat-run, (one of) a maze-like series of small passages by which rats move about their territory; freq. transf. and fig. (usu. in derogatory sense); rat-snake, a snake which kills rats, esp. a colubrid snake of the South Asian genus Ptyas, particularly the Indian P. mucosus; = dhaman 1; rat-tight a. = rat-proof adj. See also rat-tail, -trap.
1851P. H. Gosse Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica 163 All Bats are called by the negroes *Rat-bats, probably to distinguish them from Butterflies, to which they give the name of Bats. 1956J. Hearne Stranger at Gate xviii. 142 A cave full of rat-bat droppings.
1879Baron Eggers Flora St. Croix 25 *Rat-bean.
1883E. H. A[itken] Tribes on My Frontier 3 Down among the roots of the creeper..come a dozen dingy brown ‘*rat-birds’.
1910Q. Jrnl. Med. III. 125 To the pathogeny of *rat-bite fever I am at present unable to offer any clue. 1910Lancet 11 June 1618/1 The January issue of the Quarterly Journal of Medicine contains an interesting paper by Dr. T. J. Horder on three cases of irregularly periodic fever associated with the bite of a rat, and so alike in their other features as to cause him to group them together under the name of ‘rat-bite fever’. 1917Jrnl. Exper. Med. XXV. 42 The clinical symptoms of rat-bite fever are inflammation of the bitten parts, paroxysms of fever of the relapsing type, swelling of the lymph glands, and eruption of the skin. 1924Ann. Trop. Med. & Parasitol. XVIII. 171 The correct name for the causal organism of rat-bite fever is Spirillum minus, Carter 1887. 1949H. W. Florey et al. Antibiotics II. xxxi. 1030 In man the results of treating rat-bite fever due to Actino. muris [sc. Streptobacillus moniliformis] were from the first exceedingly good on very moderate doses of penicillin. 1970New Scientist 27 Aug. 407/2 The mouse has been incriminated in the transmission of rat-bite fever (or soduku).
1939Sun (Baltimore) 4 May 8/5 Guilty of saying, in regard to macaroni, that ‘it is merely associated with a dish whose other component part is *rat cheese’. 1952J. Steinbeck East of Eden xvii. 159 Their lunch of..bread and rat cheese. 1976Washington Post 7 Nov. k1/5 We will try to recreate the atmosphere of a country store. Sardines, pickled pig's feet..rat cheese.
1889Jefferies Field & Hedgerow 86 The cat wandering about got caught in the *rat-clams—i.e. a gin.
1889Pall Mall G. 18 Feb. 3/3 Is Mr. Morley sure that his books are not printed by ‘*rat firms’?
1882Jordan & Gilbert Syn. Fishes N. Amer. 54 Chimæra..*Rat-fishes..Head somewhat compressed, the snout bluntish, protruding. Ibid. 55 C. colliæi—Rat-fish; Elephant-fish. 1905D. S. Jordan Guide to Study of Fishes I. xxxi. 564 The existing Chimæras are known also as spookfishes, ratfishes, and elephant-fishes. 1936P. S. Barnhart Marine Fishes California 14 Hydrolagus colliei..Ratfish..San Diego to Alaska, in cold bottom waters. 1955Sci. News Let. 19 Feb. 121/3 Liver oil from ratfish is the richest source of batyl alcohol. 1965[see holocephalian n. s.v. holo-]. 1974Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 28 July 17/2 Kevin's prizes..were awarded for a two pound, 15 ounce ratfish, the heaviest landed.
1871Hardwicke's Science Gossip May 99/2 The rat has two kinds of fleas, that is, the banded *Rat Flea..and the common Rat Flea. 1907Daily Mail 19 Aug. 7/1 The Plague Commission has decided..that the vehicle of contagion is the rat-flea. 1929H. E. Ewing Man. External Parasites v. 170 The Common Rat Flea, Ceratophyllus fasciatus Bosc., is the flea most commonly found on rats in Europe and North America. 1953L. F. Hirst Conquest of Plague xii. 335 Hygiene improvements must have greatly reduced the rat and rat-flea population of the old-fashioned cities. 1953New Biol. XIV. 111 The species from which we have gained most of our knowledge are the tropical rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis, and..the rat flea of temperate countries, Nosopsyllus fasciatus. 1977Richards & Davies Imms's Gen. Textbk. Entomol. (ed. 10) II. iii. 941 In India the species mostly implicated [in the transmission of plague] is the rat flea.
1967Amer. Speech XLII. 229 *Rat-fucker, a tool, usually made from a straight piece of metal coat hanger, approximately six to ten inches long, with a ninety degree bend two inches from each end, in such a manner that it ultimately has the shape of an old car crank handle. 1967P. Welles Babyhip vi. 61 ‘Scum,’ John mumbled... ‘Rat-fucker, prick,’ George said.
1834M'Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 91 *Rat-Hares have moderate ears; legs nearly alike.
1891Pall Mall G. 21 Nov. 2/3 The bills..are printed at what are commonly termed ‘*rat-houses’. 1913A. J. Rees Merry Marauders ii. 24 It was a rat-house—an asylum, to be perlite. 1922A. Wright Colt from Country 83 He'll be the long lost boy, instead of the guy that's missed and landed in the rat-house. 1946F. Sargeson That Summer 108 Maybe they'd have to take me away to the rat-house. 1948V. Palmer Golconda xxxiii. 278 Hadn't it been plain all along that there was a streak of madness in the old boy?.. He had done a spell in the rat-house and was only out on sufferance. 1957I. Cross God Boy (1958) ii. 17 You're heading for the rat house, the way you talk. Imagining things.
1825G. Simpson Jrnl. 2 May in F. Merk Fur Trade & Empire (1931) 150 The *Rat hunts have likewise failed in consequence of the lowness of the Waters, but the returns in Beaver are very fair about 3,000. 1843Ainsworth's Mag. III. 78 If my father's keepers invited me to a private rat-hunt, Tickle was sure to smell a rat. 1961Guardian 1 Dec. 13/1 It is also to be doubted whether the OAS leaders, for all their deliberate use of murder and plastic bombs, want the ‘rat hunts’.
1841*Rat-kangaroo [see kangaroo n. 2]. 1846G. R. Waterhouse Nat. Hist. Mammalia I. 196 The Rat-Kangaroo may be divided into three minor groups. 1894R. Lydekker Marsupialia 63 The rat-kangaroo, often incorrectly spoken of as kangaroo-rats. 1926Le Souef & Burrell Wild Animals of Australasia 232 The rat-kangaroos for the most part live on the surface of the ground. 1944F. Clune Red Heart 21 The two aboriginal guides ran tirelessly.., supplementing the larder by killing lizards, rat-kangaroos, and other small creatures. 1965D. Morris Mammals 66 Rat-kangaroos differ from other members of the family in having well-developed canine teeth. 1978D. Ovington Austral. Endangered Species 76/1 Also known as..the burrowing rat kangaroo, the boodie is the only burrowing member of the kangaroo family.
1894Labour Commission, Gloss. s.v., In the eyes of a trades unionist the terms *rat labour and ‘non-union’ or ‘free’ labour are synonymous. By a unionist rat labour is defined as men who work for less than the established rate of wages.
1846Buchanan, *Rat Mole.
1951R. S. Prather Bodies in Bedlam ix. 65 It looked like three or four of L.A.'s juvenile moron gangs, sometimes called *rat packs, had taken turns going over the place. 1973Observer 8 Apr. 48/4 Constance throws aside worldly success..and the ratpack to immerse herself in her first love—history. 1974H. L. Foster Ribbin' iii. 91 More recently, gangs, fraternities, cliques, organizations, and ‘rat packs’ have again begun to be reported. 1977Time 25 July 10/1 This summer Sweden has been hit by a small but ugly wave of racial incidents, three of which have been violent encounters between a rat pack of young Swedish ruffians and a community of Assyrian immigrants from the Middle East.
1810Sporting Mag. XXXV. 7 The quantity of *rat-pills necessary for the great and important work.
1851Mayhew Lond. Lab. II. 53 The terrier's education, as regards his prowess in a *rat-pit.
1848Craig s.v. Rat, *Rat-poison, the common name of the plant Chailletia toxicaria, a poisonous shrub, a native of Sierra Leone.
1824Microscope (Albany, N.Y.) 6 Mar. 191/2 Loren..Webster, chief ink-dauber in a *rat-printing office at the west. Ralph Walby, nothing at all but a rat-printer.
1931T. S. Stribling Forge xviii. 159 The Lacefield barns were *rat proof. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 26 Jan. 51/3 The virus is handled inside areas surrounded with a rat-proof fence.
1929Times 2 Nov. 9/5 Surely it would be an economy to employ a man permanently for *rat proofing and rat catching at {pstlg}150 per annum.
1870Gentl. Mag. Sept. 497 The barracks are a mouldy *rat-run now. 1893Baily's Mag. Oct. 253/1 The rat-runs had been stopped up, and he killed nearly..a hundred rats before he paused. 1924Galsworthy White Monkey iii. i. 223 Hurrying along the rat-runs of the Tube, she slipped her hand into his pocket. 1940Blunden Poems 1930–1940 202 In roofless barns, in rat-run saps. 1953Spectator 13 Feb. 194/2 She will be able, through her own will and capacity, to escape from the rat-run of her environment. 1974Country Life 24 Jan. 148/4 During weekday rush hours..a normally peaceful residential street can become a rat run.
1980I. Murdoch Nuns & Soldiers iii. 195 There were rat-runs of thought here into which Gertrude did not want to enter.
1860Tennent Ceylon I. 193 note, Wolf..mentions that *rat-snakes were often so domesticated by the natives as to feed at their table. 1882C. C. Hopley Snakes iv. 85 The rat snake..and the Clothonia of India are ‘said’ to suck the teats of cows. 1907Country Life July 328/3 The yellow rat snake or chicken snake is one of the most useful and is entirely harmless. 1927, etc. [see dhaman 1]. 1958R. Conant Field Guide Reptiles & Amphibians U.S. 154 (heading) Rat Snakes: Genus Elaphe. Ibid. 155 All the Rat Snakes vibrate their tails rapidly when alarmed. 1969A. Bellairs Life Reptiles I. vi. 242 In some genera such as the rat snakes (Ptyas), the viper Echis and most sea snakes it [sc. the right lung] stretches almost back to the cloaca.
1893Jrnl. Soc. Arts 5 May 623/1 What is wanted is a mode of running the wires..that shall not only be electric-tight, but shall also be water-tight, air-tight, oil-tight, fire-tight, and *rat-tight. 1908Installation News II. 33/1 The union between two screw threads does not make a perfectly ‘watertight, airtight, gastight, and rat-tight’ joint, as the saying is.
Add:[7.] e. rat-arsed a. slang [perh. related to sense 2 c above], drunk (cf. *ratted a.3).
1984P. Beale Partridge's Dict. Slang (ed. 8) 961/1 *Rat-arsed, drunk, tipsy: teenagers': early 1980s. 1989Number One 8 Nov. 18/2 It's just a great atmosphere at roadshows, everyone's in that holiday sort of mood—there's no trouble, nobody chucks anything, nobody's rat-arsed. 1991Rage 13 Feb. (Sex Suppl.) 23/2 I've only got one big regret—I got rat-arsed and came round from a drunken stupor to find some revolting bloke's tongue down my throat. 1994Computer Weekly 7 July 46/5 The only danger is of getting rat-arsed on the local brew.
▪ II. rat, n.2 Obs. exc. north. dial.|ræt|
Forms: 3–4 ratte, 8–9 dial. rat.
[Of obscure etym.]
A rag, scrap.
a1240Wohunge in Cott. Hom. 277 Þu wunden was i rattes and i clutes. 13..S. Erkenwolde 260 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 272 In cloutes, me thynkes, Hom burde haue rotid & bene rent in rattis longe sythene. a1796Pegge Derbicisms s.v., All to rats, i.e. scraps. 1847Halliwell, Rats, pieces, shreds, fragments. North.
▪ III. † rat, n.3 Obs.
Forms 5 ratte, 6 Sc. ratt-.
[a. MDu., MLG. rat (rad-) or Da. rat (from LG.) = OFris. rad, reth, OS. rath, OHG. (mod.G.) rad, cognate with L. rota, OIr. roth, Lith. rãtas wheel, Skr. rátha-s (war) chariot.]
The wheel which was formerly used in one method of executing criminals, and on which their dead bodies were afterwards exposed. Also in pl.
1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 12 It shal coste you your lyf he wyl hange yow or sette you on the ratte. 1508Dunbar Flyting 51 Evill farit and dryit, as Denseman on the rattis. 1560Rolland Seven Sages 332 On the Rattis reuin, hangit, drawin, and quarterit.
▪ IV. rat, n.4 Sc. rare.
[Of obscure origin.]
A rut, furrow, mark, scratch.
1513Douglas æneis vii. viii. 26 Hir forryt scoryt wyth runclys and mony rat. 1808Jamieson, 1. Rat, a scratch; as, a rat with a prein, a scratch with a pin... 3. The track of a wheel in a road.
▪ V. † rat, n.5 Sc. Obs.
In 7 rate, ratt(e.
[Var. of rot n.2, by Sc. substitution of a for o.]
A file (of soldiers).
1646Lt. Gen. Baillie in Baillie's Lett. & Jrnls. (1841) II. 421, I found five ratt musqueteers, more than ane musquet⁓shott at randome before their bodie. 1653Baillie ibid. III. 225 Cotterall besett the Church with some rattes of musqueteirs and a troup of horse. a1670Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Spalding Club) II. 331 He directet also the Laird of Haddoche..to go to Torry, with a rate of mvskiteires.
▪ VI. † rat, n.6 Obs. rare—1.
= rat-rime.
1671True Non-Conformist 254 If in hearty requests, we our selves can neither be confined..to a rat of words put in our mouth, nor relish the like practice from others [etc.].
▪ VII. † rat, n.7 Obs.—0
[a. F. rat, obs. var. ras, raz: see race n.1 6.]
A strong or rapid current.
There is no evidence that the form has ever been in Eng. use. The latter part of quot. 1867 alludes to Pg. rato a sharp rock, which has no connexion with the Fr. word.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Rat, in the sea language, is used to express a part of the sea, where there are rapid and dangerous currents, or counter currents. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 561 Rat,..a rapid stream or race, derived from sharp rocks beneath, which injure the cable.
▪ VIII. rat, v.1|ræt|
[f. rat n.1]
1. intr. (chiefly pres. pple.) To catch or hunt rats.
1864Daily Tel. 17 Dec., He wished to take it [a dog] ratting. 1871M. Legrand Cambr. Freshm. 275, I believe the old pony would rat, too, if you put him in the pit.
2. intr.
a. To desert one's party, side, or cause, esp. in politics; to go over as a deserter; to turn traitor. Also, in Criminals' slang, to inform.
1812Southey Let. 18 May in Life & Corr. (1850) III. 341 W― and C―, I doubt not, ratted upon the Catholic question because they expected the Prince upon that ground would eject Perceval. 1814Ld. Brougham Let. 29 June in Creevey Papers (1903) I. ix. 195 The Whigs have just discovered old Sherry to be ‘an old and valued friend and an ancient adherent of Fox’. They therefore support him. To be sure, he has ratted and left them—he kept them out of office twice—and he now openly stands on Yarmouth's influence and C[arlton] House. 1815[cf. re-rat, re- 5 a]. 1817M. Edgeworth Harrington iii, If you have a mind to rat, rat sans phrase, and run over to the Jewish side. 1831J. W. Croker in C. Papers 1 Mar. (1884), Some of the steadiest old country gentlemen ratting over to Reform. 1888Saintsbury in Macm. Mag. Sept. 349/2 Though Mackworth ratted to my own side, I fear it must be confessed that he did rat. 1910Blackw. Mag. Aug. 256/2 Those who, in the slang of politics, are said to ‘rat’. 1934Sun (Baltimore) 20 Aug. 5/1 Misunas..has ‘turned State's evidence’—‘ratted’ in gangland parlance. 1938[see hooligan]. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart iii. iii. 371 The girl at the switchboard must have ratted. 1969Listener 24 July 102/2 One's feeling for the Chamberlain government was one of such utter contempt that one felt they might very well rat once again. 1974S. E. Morison European Discovery of Amer.: Southern Voyages xx. 480 The captain of San Gabriel ratted..and sailed for Spain.
b. To act as a ‘rat’ (sense 4 d).
1847Webster cites T. F. Adams.
c. With on. To default on; to let (someone) down; to behave disloyally towards; (orig. Criminals' slang), to inform on.
1932A. J. Worrall Eng. Idioms 12 Of course I won't do that. Do you think I'd rat on a pal. 1938E. Ambler Cause for Alarm xviii. 311 The Italians may rat on that contract. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart iii. ii. 351 In a small way I have just ratted on Anna. 1938Sun (Baltimore) 1 Sept. 4/2 This pair..have admitted the fatal attack on another prisoner for ‘ratting on us’. 1948Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 13 Feb. 30/1 But of all persons to rat on the set up McKeever, the planner and perpetrator..should have been the last. 1957C. MacInnes City of Spades ii. xiv. 199 Why isn't Muriel here, anyway? She's ratted on him. 1973Times 1 Dec. 9/6 If they were to rat on these policies he would become one of their strongest opponents and critics. 1974Socialist Worker 2 Nov. 1/2 The Labour government has ratted on these men. 1977New Yorker 24 Oct. 128/2 Finando and the two men he had ratted on..were all transferred to the same prison.
3. trans. To furnish with a ‘rat’ (sense 5 a).
1867Mrs. Whitney L. Goldthwaite x. 235 Next morning, at breakfast, Sin Saxon was as beautifully ruffled, ratted, and crimped..as ever.
4. To search (a person, his belongings, etc.) for things to steal; to pilfer. Chiefly Austral. and N.Z.
1919Downing Digger Dial. 41 Rat (vb.), (1) Search a prisoner or dead body. (2) Pick a pocket. 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 236 To rat, to steal. To search a dead body. 1931V. Palmer Separate Lives 267 ‘Look here, you slinking cur!’ he began. ‘You've been ratting other people's property for months.’ 1937J. A. Lee Civilian into Soldier 194 There must be a lot of dead Huns to rat. 1941K. Tennant Battlers i. 9 Some thieving (adjective) robber was ‘ratting’ his tucker-box. 1971J. S. Gunn Opal Terminol. 38 Rat, to pilfer opal from a miner's hiding place or enter someone's mine and take out opal rock.
▪ IX. rat, v.2 vulgar.|ræt|
[Substituted for rot v.; cf. drat.]
A form of imprecation, = drat.
1696Vanbrugh Relapse I. iii, Rat my pocket-handerchief! have not I a page to carry it? 1747B. Hoadly Suspicious Husband ii. i, Rat your inquisitive Eyes. 1792C. Smith Desmond I. 29 But, rat me, if I know why the plague we came. 1862Thackeray Philip xxxvi, Her very words were ‘Rat that piano!’ 1889Doyle Micah Clarke xxiii. 236 Rat me, if the scar is healed yet.
▪ X. † rat, v.3 Obs. rare—1.
[Related to rat n.2]
trans. To break up, drive apart.
a1400Morte Arth. 2235 Thane þe Romayns releuyde, þat are ware rebuykkyde, And alle to-rattys oure mene with theire riste horsses.
▪ XI. [rat, v.4
error for rattle v. 2 b.
1723Puckle Club (ed. 4) 84 Told us that an hart bellows, a buck groyns, a roe bells, a goat rats. ]
▪ XII. rat
obs. f. 3rd pers. sing. pres. indic. read v. |