rat
Plural: rats
Noun
- any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse
- someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike
- a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible
- "kill the rat"
- one who reveals confidential information in return for money
- a pad (usually made of hair) worn as part of a woman's coiffure
- A medium-sized rodent belonging to the genus Rattus.
- Any of the numerous members of several rodent families (e.g. voles and mice) that resemble true rats in appearance, usually having short limbs, a pointy snout, a long, hairless tail, and a body length greater than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.
- A person who is known for betrayal.
- An informant or snitch.
- A scab: a worker who acts against trade union policies.
- A person who routinely spends time at a particular location.
- A wad of shed hair used as part of a hairstyle.
- A roll of material used to puff out the hair, which is turned over it.
- Vagina, vulva.
- Ellipsis of muskrat.
- A scratch or a score.
- A place in the sea with rapid currents and crags where a ship is likely to be torn apart in stormy weather.
- A ration.
Verb
Verb Forms: ratted, ratting, rats
- To hunt rats; to betray secrets or inform on someone.
- desert one's party or group of friends, for example, for one's personal advantage
- employ scabs or strike breakers in
- take the place of work of someone on strike
- give (hair) the appearance of being fuller by using a rat
- catch rats, especially with dogs
- give away information about somebody
- To hunt or kill rats.
- To betray a political party, cause or principle; to betray someone, to desert a person or thing.
- To work as a scab, going against trade union policies.
- To backcomb (hair).
- To inform on someone; to betray someone to the police or authorities.
- To scratch or score.
- To tear, rip, rend.
- Damn, drat, blast; used in oaths.
Examples
- Get your rat out.
- He is going to rat us out!
- He loved hockey and was a devoted rink rat.
- He ratted a vertical line on his face with a pocket knife.
- He ratted on his coworker.
- He tried to rat out his friend for using an illegal dictionary, but it was just a joke.
- Our teenager has become a mall rat.
- rat bastard
- Ratted to shreds.
- What a rat, leaving us stranded here!
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English ratte, rat, rotte, from Old English rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (compare West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”). However, the rat may have been unknown in Northern Europe in antiquity, and the Proto-Germanic word may have referred to a different animal; see *rattaz for more. Attestation of this family of words begins in the 12th century.
Some of the Germanic cognates show considerable consonant variation, e.g. Middle Low German ratte, radde; Middle High German rate, ratte, ratze. The irregularity may be symptomatic of a late dispersal of the word, although Kroonen accounts for it with a Proto-Germanic stem *raþō nom., *ruttaz gen., showing both ablaut and a Kluge's law alternation, with the variation arising from varying remodellings in the descendants. Kroonen states that this requires a Proto-Indo-European etymon in final *t and is incompatible with the usual derivation from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”).
Synonyms
betray, betrayer, blabber, blackleg, bum, crumb, denounce, dirty dog, fink, git, give away, grass, informer, lowlife, puke, rotter, scab, scum bag, shit, shop, skunk, snitch, so-and-so, squealer, stag, stinker, stinkpot, strikebreaker, tell on, bewray, put the finger on, stool pigeon, to finger, traitor
Scrabble Score: 3
rat: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordrat: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
rat: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary