rat-catchern.

1565 J. Hall Courte of Vertue f. 142^v There sawe I also rat catchers, And suche as teethe dyd drawe, Lyke fugitiues and vagabundes, Contrary vnto lawe.

1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iii. i. 74 You Ratcatcher, come backe. View more context for this quotation

1623 Althorp MS in J. N. Simpkinson Washingtons (1860) App. 44 To the ratcatcher..for bating the house.

1668 W. Davenant Man's the Master iii. ii I rather fear 'tis the old rat-catcher, your master, that has caught us here in a trap.

1700 S. L. tr. C. Schweitzer Relation Voy. in tr. C. Frick & C. Schweitzer Relation Two Voy. E.-Indies 291 Rat-Catchers..destroy the Rats and Mice as much as any Cats would.

1771 Multum in Parvo 4 The nobility, farmers, &c...send for a man, known in the country by the name of a rat-catcher.

1814 T. Chalmers Let. in W. Hanna Mem. T. Chalmers (1850) I. 399 The gains..from the calling of a rat-catcher.

1878 Amer. Naturalist 12 310 It is amusing to see a party of young Apaches returning from a hunt, with rats dangling at their belts... No dyspepsia disturbs these juvenile rat-catchers, no cat or terrier can equal them in dexterity.

1906 Westm. Gaz. 25 Sept. 2/2 As the rat-catcher politician passed further on, the old man..winked at his neighbour in the next pen.

1929 W. B. Yeats Let. 28 Mar. (1953) 147 I thought you more subjected than you are to the rat-catchers and cockle-pickers.

1979 J. Gardner Nostradamus Traitor li. 248 ‘Are you a rat-catcher, Mr. Kruger?’.. ‘They are called rodent operatives nowadays.’

1980 Telegraph (Brisbane) 4 Jan. 6/3 The frustrated spy catcher—or as they call it in the trade, rat catcher—was freed.

2002 Daily Tel. 14 Oct. 9/4 The water vole..is often mistaken for a rat, even by ratcatchers.

1673 E. Hickeringill Gregory 306 To which..I and millions of honest Gentlemen have an antipathy, or rather fright this Ratcatcher Owl out of the Church.

1704 tr. P. Baldæus Descr. Ceylon in A. Churchill & J. Churchill Coll. Voy. III. 827/1 The Land-Serpents call'd Ratcatchers are..very large.

1785 tr. J. C. Wolf Life & Adventures 185 There is another species of snake, which is called the rat-catcher, and which performs the same offices as our cat does.

1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xxix. 395 He [sc. a fox] had only one fault as a rat-catcher; he would never catch a second till he had eaten the first.

1883 Amer. Naturalist 17 299 As a rat-catcher, this animal [sc. the mongoose] has proved itself worthy of its reputation.

1945 Calif. Folklore Q. 4 179 An AP dispatch..telling of the death of England's champion rat catcher, a fourteen-year-old Alsatian retriever.

2006 Xinhua Gen. News Service (Nexis) 21 Sept. Foxes are ideal ratcatchers and it is cost-effective to use them to tackle rat infestation.

1910 R. Kipling Horse Marines 9 He came back to the bar, after he'd changed into those rat-catcher clothes.

1930 Field 29 Nov. 764/1 The self-respecting beginner will want to be turned out properly, in the right ‘rat-catcher style’.

1933 A. Powell From View to Death viii. 200 Both sons were in ratcatcher and Torquil wore a canary-coloured waistcoat.

1963 M. Malim Pagoda Tree xvi. 101 While one could exhibit oneself and did to the Cricket Club in rat-catcher, so to speak, one had to dress for presentation on the Thursday committee night at the Tulyar.

1977 ‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon xi. 205 Nor were they a very distinguished Hunt: the men mostly turned up in ratcatcher (Fen had that morning noted one..who was wearing a hoicked-up caftan and prayer beads above his shining riding boots).

2004 Tampa (Florida) Tribune (Nexis) 28 Nov. 11 Their relatively informal dress is called ratcatcher, allowed by tradition to be worn only while cubbing... They will wear the traditional riding coat and stock..upon commencement of the formal season.

1928 J. B. Thomas Hounds & Hunting 254 Rat-catcher—referring to one informally dressed when hunting.