RAT (ratted, ratting)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: ratted    , ratting   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rat mean? 

• RAT (noun)
  The noun RAT has 5 senses:

1. any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse

2. someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike

3. a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible

4. one who reveals confidential information in return for money

5. a pad (usually made of hair) worn as part of a woman's coiffure

  Familiarity information: RAT used as a noun is common.

• RAT (verb)
  The verb RAT has 6 senses:

1. desert one's party or group of friends, for example, for one's personal advantage

2. employ scabs or strike breakers in

3. take the place of work of someone on strike

4. give (hair) the appearance of being fuller by using a rat

5. catch rats, especially with dogs

6. give away information about somebody

  Familiarity information: RAT used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RAT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("rat" is a kind of...):

gnawer; rodent (relatively small placental mammals having a single pair of constantly growing incisor teeth specialized for gnawing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rat"):

pocket rat (any of various rodents with cheek pouches)

brown rat; Norway rat; Rattus norvegicus (common domestic rat; serious pest worldwide)

black rat; Rattus rattus; roof rat (common household pest originally from Asia that has spread worldwide)

bandicoot rat; mole rat (burrowing scaly-tailed rat of India and Ceylon)

jerboa rat (large Australian rat with hind legs adapted for leaping)

Oryzomys palustris; rice rat (hardy agile rat of grassy marshes of Mexico and the southeastern United States)

Derivation:

ratty (dirty and infested with rats)

rat (catch rats, especially with dogs)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

blackleg; rat; scab; strikebreaker

Hypernyms ("rat" is a kind of...):

worker (a person who works at a specific occupation)

Derivation:

rat (take the place of work of someone on strike)

rat (employ scabs or strike breakers in)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

bum; crumb; dirty dog; git; lowlife; puke; rat; rotter; scum bag; skunk; so-and-so; stinker; stinkpot

Context example:

the British call a contemptible person a 'git'

Hypernyms ("rat" is a kind of...):

disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)

Derivation:

rat (desert one's party or group of friends, for example, for one's personal advantage)

Sense 4

Meaning:

One who reveals confidential information in return for money

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

betrayer; blabber; informer; rat; squealer

Hypernyms ("rat" is a kind of...):

informant; source (a person who supplies information)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rat"):

canary; fink; sneak; sneaker; snitch; snitcher; stool pigeon; stoolie; stoolpigeon (someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police)

copper's nark; nark (an informer or spy working for the police)

grass; supergrass (a police informer who implicates many people)

Derivation:

rat (give away information about somebody)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A pad (usually made of hair) worn as part of a woman's coiffure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("rat" is a kind of...):

pad (a flat mass of soft material used for protection, stuffing, or comfort)

Holonyms ("rat" is a part of...):

coif; coiffure; hair style; hairdo; hairstyle (the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair))

Derivation:

rat (give (hair) the appearance of being fuller by using a rat)

• RAT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they rat    ... he / she / it rats   
Past simple: ratted   
Past participle: ratted   
-ing form: ratting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Desert one's party or group of friends, for example, for one's personal advantage

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "rat" is one way to...):

defect; desert (desert (a cause, a country or an army), often in order to join the opposing cause, country, or army)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

rat (a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible)

ratter (a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc.)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Employ scabs or strike breakers in

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "rat" is one way to...):

employ; engage; hire (engage or hire for work)

Domain category:

industry; manufacture (the organized action of making of goods and services for sale)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

rat (someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike)

ratter (a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc.)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Take the place of work of someone on strike

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

blackleg; fink; rat; scab

Hypernyms (to "rat" is one way to...):

do work; work (be employed)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

rat (someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike)

ratter (a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc.)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Give (hair) the appearance of being fuller by using a rat

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "rat" is one way to...):

fill out; pad (line or stuff with soft material)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

rat (a pad (usually made of hair) worn as part of a woman's coiffure)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Catch rats, especially with dogs

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "rat" is one way to...):

capture; catch (capture as if by hunting, snaring, or trapping)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

rat (any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse)

ratter (any of several breeds of terrier developed to catch rats)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Give away information about somebody

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

betray; denounce; give away; grass; rat; shit; shop; snitch; stag; tell on

Context example:

He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam

Hypernyms (to "rat" is one way to...):

inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rat"):

sell someone out (give information that compromises others)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

ratting (to furnish incriminating evidence to an officer of the law (usually in return for favors))

ratter (a disloyal person who betrays or deserts his cause or religion or political party or friend etc.)

rat (one who reveals confidential information in return for money)

 Context examples 

I desired a lock for my door, to prevent rats and mice from coming in.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He smelled around the stuffed man as if he suspected there might be a nest of rats in the straw, and he often growled in an unfriendly way at the Scarecrow.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Without the ability to activate orexin, the panic-prone rats didn't develop anxiety behaviors following sodium lactate infusions.

(The Mechanism of Panic Attacks, NIH, US)

To study this further, the researchers developed new materials in the lab with varying degrees of stiffness, and used these to grow and study the rat brain stem cells in a controlled environment.

(Cambridge scientists reverse ageing process in rat brain stem cells, University of Cambridge)

UL39 is replaced by the rat CYP2B1 gene, encoding a cytochrome P450 enzyme that activates oxazaphosphorines. rRp450 also expresses viral thymidine kinase, which activates the cancer prodrug ganciclovir.

(Oncolytic HSV-1 rRp450, NCI Thesaurus)

A rat could not conceal himself either in the room or the corridor.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

P. indolicus is found in cattle, swine, and rats and is pathogenic to humans and possibly animals.

(Peptoniphilus indolicus, NCI Thesaurus)

Pretty, indeed, to be caught there like a rat.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

It was so small that a rat could hardly pass through.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mouse and rat NRBP homologs exhibit 91% and 89% identity with NRBP.

(Nuclear Receptor Binding Protein, NCI Thesaurus)