Ratten

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of ratton. alt-of, alternative, rare
Verb
  1. 1
    To sabotage machinery or tools as part of an industrial dispute, particularly the tools of a workman who went against the union. Northern-England, obsolete

    "Did you also employ them to ratten people if they had broken any rules of your society, for instance, by having too many apprentices?"

Example

More examples

"Did you also employ them to ratten people if they had broken any rules of your society, for instance, by having too many apprentices?"

Etymology

The verbal sense is from the notion of causing mischief like a rat.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.