| 释义 |
rat
I. \ˈrat, usu -ad.+V\ noun
(-s)
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English ræt; akin to Old Saxon ratta rat, Middle Low German rotte, Middle Dutch ratte, Old High German ratta, rato, ratza rat, rāzi wild, sharp to the taste, Latin rodere to gnaw, radere to scrape, shave, Welsh rhathell rasp; basic meaning: to scrape, gnaw
1.
a. : any of numerous rodents (family Muridae) of Rattus and related genera that differ from the murid mice by their usually considerably larger size and by features of the teeth and other structures and that include forms (as the brown rat, the black rat, and the roof rat) which live in and about human habitations and in ships, have become naturalized by commerce in most parts of the world, and are destructive pests consuming or destroying vast quantities of food and other goods and acting as vectors of various diseases (as bubonic plague)
b. : any of various other rodents or similar size and appearance — used often in combination
< muskrat >
< spiny rat >
2.
a. : one who deserts his party, friends, or associates (as in adversity or for selfish ends)
b.
(1) : a printer who works for less than the established or prevailing rate of pay
(2) : scab 4b
c. : a despicable or contemptible person : louse, heel
< hoodlums, shysters, and assorted rats — Stanley Walker >
especially : informer 3, stool pigeon
3. : a pad with tapering ends over which a woman's hair is arranged for an illusion of greater quantity
4. : an olive gray that is deeper and slightly greener than the color mouse, deeper than nutria, and redder and deeper than stone gray
II. verb
(ratted ; ratted ; ratting ; rats)
intransitive verb
1. : to desert one's party or associates for personal advantage
< incurred the reproach of having ratted, solely by his inability to follow the friends of his early days — Thomas De Quincey >
2. : to catch rats; especially : to hunt rats with a dog
3. : to work as a rat : scab; specifically : to work as a printer for less than the established or customary rate of pay
4. : to act as an informer or stool pigeon : squeal
< ratting on the men they live with — J.M.Murtagh & Sara Harris >
transitive verb
1. : to employ scabs or strikebreakers in (an industry)
2. : to give (hair) the effect of greater quantity by use of a rat or style of combing
•
- rat on
III. transitive verb
(ratted ; ratted ; ratting ; rats)
Etymology: probably euphemism for rot (I)
: damn, confound, drat — used as a mild oath
< rat me if it was not a meritorious action — Henry Fielding >
IV. noun
1. : a person who spends much time in a specified place
< a gym rat >
2. : a first-year student especially at a military school |