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Rat Definition

rat

See also Rat, and rät

Contents

English

A brown rat, one of the many species of rat. Wikipedia has an article on: Rat Wikimedia Commons has related media at: Category:rats

Pronunciation

Etymology

From Middle English rat, rotte, from Old English ræt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *ratō (cf. West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat, German dialect Ratz), from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape”) (cf. Welsh rhathu ‘to grate, rasp’, Latin rodō (“to gnaw”), rōstrum ‘beak, prow’, Middle Persian randītan ‘to scrape, smooth’, Sanskrit rádati ‘he gnaws, cuts’).

Noun

rat (plural rats)

  1. (zoology) Any of about 56 different species of small, omnivorous rodents belonging to the genus Rattus.
  2. (informal) A term indiscriminately applied to numerous members of several rodent families (e.g. voles and mice) having bodies longer than about 12 cm, or 5 inches.
  3. (informal) A person who is known for betrayal; a scoundrel.
    What a rat, leaving us stranded here!
    • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
      He’s more a man than any pair of rats of you in this here house.
  4. (informal) An informant or snitch
  5. (slang) A person who routinely spends time at a particular location.
    Our teenager has become a mall rat.
    He loved hockey and was a devoted rink rat.
  6. (Can we verify() this sense?) A promiscuous person - often a young female - who attends sporting and other entertainment events, primarily to seek sexual liaisons with athletes, entertainers and/or others traveling with them; a groupie.
  7. Informer.
  8. Scab
  9. North West London slang term for Vagina, as in get your rat out.
  10. A wad of shed hair used as part of a hairstyle.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from rat (noun)
See also
Translations
rodent
traitor

Verb

rat (third-person singular simple present rats, present participle ratting, simple past and past participle ratted)

  1. (usually with “on” or “out”) to betray someone and tell their secret to an authority or an enemy; to turn someone in, bewray.
    He ratted on his coworker.
    He is going to rat us out!
  2. (of a dog, etc.) To kill rats.
Synonyms
Translations
to tell on someone
  • Finnish: antaa ilmi (fi), kannella (fi)
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Anagrams

Catalan

Noun

rat m. (plural rats)

  1. rat

Synonyms

Danish

Pronunciation

Noun

rat n. (singular definite rattet, plural indefinite rat)

  1. wheel, steering wheel

Inflection

Inflection of rat
neuter gender Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative, dative and accusative rat rattet rat rattene
genitive rats rattets rats rattenes

Dutch

Pronunciation

Noun

rat f. (plural ratten, diminutive ratje)

  1. rat

French

Etymology

From Middle French rat (“rat”), from Old French rat (“rat”), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *rato ("rat"), from Proto-Germanic *rat(t)ēn, *rataz, *rattō (“rat”), from Proto-Indo-European *rēd- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”). Cognate with Old High German rato (“rat”), Old Saxon ratta (“rat”), Old English ræt (“rat”). More at rat.

Pronunciation

Noun

rat m. (plural rats)

  1. rat
  2. (informal) sweetheart
  3. scrooch

Related terms

Anagrams

Guernésiais

Etymology

From Old French rat (“rat”), of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *rat(t)ēn, *rataz, *rattō (“rat”), from Proto-Indo-European *rēd- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”).

Noun

rat m. (plural rats)

  1. rat

Jèrriais

Etymology

From Old French rat (“rat”), of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *rat(t)ēn, *rataz, *rattō (“rat”), from Proto-Indo-European *rēd- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”).

Noun

rat m. (plural rats)

  1. rat

Lojban

Rafsi

rat

  1. Rafsi of ratni.

Occitan

Noun

rat m. (plural rats)

  1. rat

Old French

Etymology

Of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic *rat(t)ēn, *rataz, *rattō (“rat”), from Proto-Indo-European *rēd- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”).

Noun

rat m. (oblique plural rats, nominative singular rats, nominative plural rat)

  1. rat (rodent)

Descendants

Romani

Noun

rat m. (plural rat)

  1. blood

Romansch

Etymology

Of Germanic origin, from Frankish *rato ("rat"), from Proto-Germanic *rat(t)ēn, *rataz, *rattō (“rat”), from Proto-Indo-European *rēd- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”).

Noun

rat m. (plural rats)

  1. (Surmiran) rat

Synonyms

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *ortь.

Pronunciation

Noun

rȁt m. (Cyrillic spelling ра̏т)

  1. war
    Samo idioti misle da rat rješava probleme. (Ijekavian)
    Samo idioti misle da rat rešava probleme. (Ekavian)
    Only idiots think that war solves problems.

Declension

declension of rat
singular plural
nominative rat ratovi
genitive rata ratova
dative ratu ratovima
accusative rat ratove
vocative rate ratovi
locative ratu ratovima
instrumental ratom ratovima

Torres Strait Creole

Etymology

From English rat.

Noun

rat

  1. rat or mouse

Synonyms

 

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