Ratting

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The blood sport of setting a dog upon rats confined in a pit to see how many he will kill in a given time. archaic, uncountable, usually

    "Henry Mayhew, the nineteenth-century chronicler of London's underworld, described the frenzied activity of one ratting contest. A terrier — the best of ratting dogs — was placed into a pit with 50 rats."

  2. 2
    to furnish incriminating evidence to an officer of the law (usually in return for favors) wordnet
  3. 3
    A vocation involving the pest control of rats, typically using a working terrier. uncountable, usually
  4. 4
    Desertion of one's principles. uncountable, usually
  5. 5
    Working as a scab, against trade union policies. uncountable, usually
Verb
  1. 1
    present participle and gerund of rat form-of, gerund, participle, present

    "Don't go ratting to the police about what happened."

Synonyms

All synonyms
apostasybackslidingbetrayalboltbreakawaydefection

Example

More examples

"Don't go ratting to the police about what happened."

Related phrases

ratting capblood sportpest controlrat baitingworking terrier

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