| 释义 |
ratty, a.|ˈrætɪ|
[f. rat n.1 + -y1.]
1. a. Characteristic of a rat or rats.
1888H. S. Merriman Young Mistley II. vi. 78 Those delightful ratty odours that..assailed his sportive nostrils. 1895J. C. Snaith Mistress Dorothy Marvin vii, He puckered his ratty eyes till scarce aught was left of them.
b. Infested with rats.
1865G. Meredith Farina 104 Your German dungeons are mortal shivering ratty places. 1891H. S. Merriman Prisoners & Captives I. ii. 36 No dog had rejoiced more thankfully in ratty sedges.
2. a. slang. Wretched, mean, miserable, nasty, etc.
1867‘Mark Twain’ Notebk. (1935) viii. 99 Village of Bethany... It is fearfully ratty—some houses—mud. 1884― Huck. Finn ix. 78 We got..a ratty old bed-quilt off the bed. 1885Century Mag. XXIX. 548/1 An old ratty deck of cards. 1900Blackw. Mag. Nov. 670/1 Both were pretty ‘ratty’ from hardship and loneliness. 1962J. D. MacDonald Girl xii. 185 Pooty-Tat sat on a ratty couch. 1969E. B. White Let. 2 Nov. (1976) 586 When he received me, in a ratty apartment in the West Seventies or thereabouts, he was wearing toga and sandals. 1970‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird iv. 51 A ratty half⁓dozen people had spilled out of the bar-café... A lot of money changed hands rather quickly. 1974R. M. Pirsig Zen & Art of Motorcycle Maintenance iii. xxvi. 317 John always kept his BMW spic and span. It really did look nice, while mine's always a little ratty, it seems.
b. colloq. Ill-tempered, irritated, angry.
1909M. B. Saunders Litany Lane xvi. 215 Shut up. She's ratty. 1913H. S. Walpole Fortitude i. iv. 53 All right, you needn't be ratty about it! 1929W. P. Ridge Affect. Regards 226 Have I ever got ratty with you, Elsie? 1976T. Heald Let Sleeping Dogs Die vi. 122 I'd simply have asked her what the hell she was so ratty about.
3. Austral. and N.Z. colloq. Mad, eccentric, silly. Phr. to be ratty over: to be infatuated with.
1900H. Lawson On Track 75 Trav'lers and strangers failed to see anything uncommonly ratty about him. 1906E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xiv. 184 Already the Beauties had decided that Connie was ‘as ratty as rabbits’. 1922A. Wright Colt from Country 86 There was a rough-up in a pub; he got a knock, had a fit, and went real ratty, and that was the end of him. 1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 59 Ratty, stupid, silly. Ratty over (a person), infatuated with.
4. Comb., as ratty-looking adj.
1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xix. 182 Both of them had big, fat, ratty-looking carpet-bags.
Hence ˈrattily adv., ill-temperedly, irritably.
1977T. Heald Just Desserts vii. 169 ‘We're supposed to be buddies,’ said Bognor, rattily. 1980Times Lit. Suppl. 4 July 754/2 Compliments fly and are quoted in abundance in this symposium. One reads on, rattily, in the hope of meeting some unusual personal habit,..some outstanding trait of character or behaviour.
Add: ˈrattiness n.
1979Washington Post 2 Mar. (Weekend section) 21/4 His rattiness is supposed to come off as generosity. 1985Los Angeles Times (San Diego County ed.) 26 Aug. 8/2 Bleach-eaten holes added yet another dimension to the rattiness of these jeans. |