rat finkn.adj.

1961 N.Y. Times 9 May 43/4 The authors have facetiously labeled the contemplated musical as ‘Ratfink’, after the name of its central character, James J. Ratfink. Its title is not meant in a derogatory sense.]

1961 Winnipeg (Manitoba) Free Press 13 Nov. 15/2 The film director accused him of being the worst kind of a rat fink.

1964 Guardian 8 July 7/6 That's the hitcheroo, baby,..this time when Cliff and Shirley dance on top of Everest it's a send up. That keeps the intellectual rat-finks happy, see.

1969 C. F. Burke God is Beautiful, Man 88 His name was Judas and he was a rat fink. So this dirty rat fink he says to the pres of the gang, Caiaphas, ‘What's in it for me if I put the finger on him?’

1973 M. Gordon & G. Gordon Informant x. 46 I may be a rat fink but I'm not going to be a paid rat fink.

1990 N. De Mille Gold Coast v. xxvi. 395 That profound lack of moral courage that is peculiar to rat finks, stool pigeons, and police snitches the world over.

2000 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) June 70/2 The fiefdom's key rat fink and enforcer is a supervisor named Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole), a walking vanity plate who patrols the tick-tack-toe cubicles, coffee cup in hand, acting as if he just happened to be dropping by.

1964 Guardian 8 July 7/6 This is going to bring them all in: the dads and mums, the squares, the rat-fink intellectuals, and the teenagers.

1965 P. De Vries Let me count Ways xx. 273 So cool and rat fink. What college did you go to? That made you so cultured and rat fink.

1976 L. Deighton Twinkle, twinkle, Little Spy v. 30 It was Tony Nowak's rat-fink cousin Stefan who put the spaghetti in the piano.

2003 Metro (London ed.) 19 Sept. 25/3 Everything goes flawlessly, until Steve (Edward Norton, with giveaway rat-fink moustache) double-crosses.