rat
(ræt )
Word forms: rats , ratting , ratted
1. countable noun A2
A rat is an animal which has a long tail and looks like a large mouse.
This was demonstrated in a laboratory experiment with rats.
...a rat-infested derelict building.
2. countable noun
If you call someone a rat, you mean that you are angry with them or dislike them, often because they have cheated you or betrayed you. [informal, disapproval]
What did you do with the gun you took from that little rat Turner?
Synonyms: rogue, scoundrel [old-fashioned], heel [slang], cad [old-fashioned, informal, British]
3. verb
If someone rats on you, they tell someone in authority about things that you have done, especially bad things. [informal]
They were accused of encouraging children to rat on their parents. [VERB + on]
4. verb
If someone rats on an agreement, they do not do what they said they would do. [informal]
She claims he ratted on their deal. [VERB + on]
5. to smell a rat phrase
If you smell a rat, you begin to suspect or realize that something is wrong in a particular situation, for example that someone is trying to deceive you or harm you.
If I don't send a picture, he will smell a rat.
Though Lloyd George's behaviour seemed curious, Haig still did not smell a rat.
Synonyms: suspect something, doubt someone, distrust someone, mistrust someone
Image of rat
© photolinc, Shutterstock
Idioms:
look like a drowned rat
to be very wet, for example because you have been caught in the rain or because your hair is wet
By the time I got there I looked like a drowned rat.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
the rat race
a job or way of life in which people compete aggressively with each other in order to be successful
I had to get out of the rat race for a while and take a look at the real world again.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
smell a rat
to suspect that something is wrong in a particular situation, for example that someone is trying to deceive you or harm you
If only I'd used my head, I'd have smelt a rat straight away and never touched the proposition.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Translations:
Chinese: 老鼠, 告发
Japanese: ドブネズミ, 密告する
- ingestion
- in/given time
- inglorious
- inglorious end
- ingloriously
- in God's name
- in good/bad repair
- in good conscience
- in good conscience/in all conscience
- in good faith
- in good form
- in good nick
- in good nick/in bad nick
- in good order
- in good repair
- in good shape
- in good shape
- in good taste
- in good time
- in good trim
- ingot
- ingrained
- ingrained attitudes
- ingrained culture
- ingrained habit