Synonyms for ratting

Grammar : Noun, verb

Spell : rat

Phonetic Transcription : ræt

Top 10 synonyms for ratting

Other synonyms for the word ratting

Définition of ratting

Origin : late Old English ræt "rat," of uncertain origin. Similar words are found in Celtic (Gaelic radan), Romanic (Italian ratto, Spanish rata, French rat) and Germanic (Old Saxon ratta; Dutch rat; German Ratte, dialectal Ratz; Swedish råtta, Danish rotte) languages, but connection is uncertain and origin unknown. In all this it is very much like cat.
Perhaps from Vulgar Latin *rattus, but Weekley thinks this is of Germanic origin, "the animal having come from the East with the race-migrations" and the word passing thence to the Romanic languages. American Heritage and Tucker connect Old English ræt to Latin rodere and thus PIE *red- "to scrape, scratch, gnaw," source of rodent (q.v.). Klein says there is no such connection and suggests a possible cognate in Greek rhine "file, rasp." Weekley connects them with a question mark and Barnhart writes, "the relationship to each other of the Germanic, Romance, and Celtic words for rat is uncertain." OED says "probable" the rat word spread from Germanic to Romanic, but takes no position on ultimate origin.
RATS. Of these there are the following kinds: a black rat and a grey rat, a py-rat and a cu-rat. ["Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," Grose, 1788]
Middle English common form was ratton, from augmented Old French form raton. Sense of "one who abandons his associates" (1620s) is from belief that rats leave a ship about to sink or a house about to fall and led to meaning "traitor, informant" (1902; verb 1910). Interjection rats is American English, 1886. To smell a rat is 1540s; "to be put on the watch by suspicion as the cat by the scent of a rat; to suspect danger" [Johnson]. _____-rat, "person who frequents _____" (in earliest reference dock-rat) is from 1864.

As in betrayal : noun divulgence of information
As in renounce : verb abandon, reject
As in repudiate : verb reject; turn one's back on
As in sing : verb tattle on someone
As in turn : verb change one's mind; defect
As in blow the whistle : verb inform on
As in sell out : verb betray principles
As in default : verb dodge payment
As in defect : verb break from belief, faith
As in denounce : verb condemn, attack

Example sentences :

The hedge is just what it should be, and if it had been made for ratting it could not be better.
Extract from : « Studies in the Art of Rat-catching » by H. C. Barkley

Bill was wont to boast of the ratting qualities of his dogs at home.
Extract from : « The Disputed V.C. » by Frederick P. Gibbon

Then you can put me in, and I shall have great pleasure in ratting for a baronetcy.
Extract from : « The Weird Sisters, Volume I (of 3) » by Richard Dowling

She asked a good deal about the ratting, and about Jun and Maud.
Extract from : « The Black Opal » by Katharine Susannah Prichard

In the shelters at midday, the talk was all of the rats and ratting.
Extract from : « The Black Opal » by Katharine Susannah Prichard

It was "ratting;" and ratting, as Seth thought, without the excuse of a bribe.
Extract from : « A Charming Fellow, Volume II (of 3) » by Frances Eleanor Trollope

Ratting in the hold was our main excitement when we weren't sweating at the pumps.
Extract from : « The Lamp in the Desert » by Ethel M. Dell

If you're keen on ratting, there's plenty of sport of that kind to be had here.
Extract from : « The Lamp in the Desert » by Ethel M. Dell

On a board immediately below the head, was inscribed in front—Behold the ratting lamb, with a cocks comb at his tail.
Extract from : « The History of the Catnach Press » by Charles Hindley

"Ratting seems to have more excuse," the tutor said, and made no sign of a liking for either of those popular pastimes.
Extract from : « Lord Ormont and his Aminta, Complete » by George Meredith

Antonyms for ratting

Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019