rathole

Plural: ratholes

Noun

• A hole made by a rat; a squalid, cramped place.
• a hole (as in the wall of a building) made by rats
• a small dirty uncomfortable room
• An entrance to a living area or passageway used by mice or rats.
• A living area used by mice or rats, or a similar living area used by other animals.
• A particularly squalid human residence or other place.
• An area of a silo that has undergone ratholing, so that material moves mostly through the centre and accumulates around the edges.
• A pigeonhole.

Verb

• To hoard.
• To take a conversation off topic, especially in technical meetings.
• To surreptitiously or prematurely remove chips during a poker game.
• To exit a cash game and re-enter with a smaller stack.
• (of material) To empty only in the center of a hopper or silo, persisting circumferentially.

Examples

• His opponent’s cunning play closed off every potential rathole for high-scoring words.

Synonyms

amass, amound, intreasure