/ˈɹæti/, /ˈɹæti/, [-ɾi]
OriginFrom rat + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjective).
- Resembling or characteristic of a rat; ratlike.
- Infested with rats.
- figuratively, informalIn poor condition or repair.
“We got an old tin lantern, and a butcher knife without any handle, and a bran-new Barlow knife worth two bits in any store, and a lot of tallow candles, and a tin candlestick, and a gourd, and a tin c”
“The Marcher lord was still clad in his ratty black cloak and dented breastplate with its chipped enamel lightning.”
“I was having exactly that thought on a ratty mock-leather couch in Islington.”
- Australia, figuratively, informalCrazy, mad; ridiculous; slightly strange, eccentric; also (followed by about, on, or over), attracted to, infatuated with.
- figuratively, informalAnnoyed, bad-tempered, irritable.
“He got bad, he got ratty, he would take it out on people around him. He was mean when it turned against him.”
- uncountableSynonym of knock down ginger (“prank of knocking on a front door and running away”).
Formsrattier(comparative) · rattiest(superlative)