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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.
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1828 Noah Webster Dictionary
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1828.mshaffer.com › Word [rat]

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rat

RAT, n. [Probably named from gnawing, and from the root of L. rodo.]

A small quadruped of the genus Mus, which infests houses, stores and ships; a troublesome race of animals.

To smell a rat, to be suspicious, to be on the watch from suspicion; as a cat by the scent or noise of a rat.


Evolution (or devolution) of this word [rat]

1828 Webster1844 Webster1913 Webster

RAT, n. [Probably named from gnawing, and from the root of L. rodo.]

A small quadruped of the genus Mus, which infests houses, stores and ships; a troublesome race of animals.

To smell a rat, to be suspicious, to be on the watch from suspicion; as a cat by the scent or noise of a rat.

RAT, n. [Sax. ræt; D. rat; G. ratze; Fr. rat; Arm. raz; Sp. rato; Port. id. a rat, and ratos, sharp stones in the sea that wear cables; probably named from gnawing, and from the root of L. rodo.]

The popular name of several species of the genus Mus, which are rodent mammals, or small quadrupeds that infest houses, stores and ships; a troublesome race of animals. To smell a rat, to be suspicious, to be on the watch from suspicion; as a cat by the scent or noise of a rat.


Rat
  1. One of several species of small rodents of the genus Mus and allied genera, larger than mice, that infest houses, stores, and ships, especially the Norway, or brown, rat (M. decumanus), the black rat (M. rattus), and the roof rat (M. Alexandrinus). These were introduced into America from the Old World.
  2. In English politics, to desert one's party from interested motives] to forsake one's associates for one's own advantage; in the trades, to work for less wages, or on other conditions, than those established by a trades union.

    Coleridge . . . incurred the reproach of having ratted, solely by his inability to follow the friends of his early days. De Quincey.

  3. A round and tapering mass of hair, or similar material, used by women to support the puffs and rolls of their natural hair.

    [Local, U.S.]
  4. To catch or kill rats.
  5. One who deserts his party or associates; hence, in the trades, one who works for lower wages than those prescribed by a trades union.

    [Cant]

    * "It so chanced that, not long after the accession of the house of Hanover, some of the brown, that is, the German or Norway, rats, were first brought over to this country (in some timber as is said); and being much stronger than the black, or, till then, the common, rats, they in many places quite extirpated the latter. The word (both the noun and the verb to rat) was first, as we have seen, leveled at the converts to the government of George the First, but has by degrees obtained a wider meaning, and come to be applied to any sudden and mercenary change in politics." Lord Mahon.

    Bamboo rat (Zoöl.), any Indian rodent of the genus Rhizomys. -- Beaver rat, Coast rat. (Zoöl.) See under Beaver, and Coast. -- Blind rat (Zoöl.), the mole rat. -- Cotton rat (Zoöl.), a long-haired rat (Sigmodon hispidus), native of the Southern United States and Mexico. It makes its nest of cotton and is often injurious to the crop. -- Ground rat. See Ground Pig, under Ground. -- Hedgehog rat. See under Hedgehog. -- Kangaroo rat (Zoöl.), the potoroo. -- Norway rat (Zoöl.), the common brown rat. See Rat. -- Pouched rat. (Zoöl.) (a) See Pocket Gopher, under Pocket. (b) Any African rodent of the genus Cricetomys. -- Rat Indians (Ethnol.), a tribe of Indians dwelling near Fort Ukon, Alaska. They belong to the Athabascan stock. -- Rat mole. (Zoöl.) See Mole rat, under Mole. -- Rat pit, an inclosed space into which rats are put to be killed by a dog for sport. -- Rat snake (Zoöl.), a large colubrine snake (Ptyas mucosus) very common in India and Ceylon. It enters dwellings, and destroys rats, chickens, etc. -- Spiny rat (Zoöl.), any South American rodent of the genus Echinomys. -- To smell a rat. See under Smell. -- Wood rat (Zoöl.), any American rat of the genus Neotoma, especially N. Floridana, common in the Southern United States. Its feet and belly are white.

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Rat

RAT, noun [Probably named from gnawing, and from the root of Latin rodo.]

A small quadruped of the genus Mus, which infests houses, stores and ships; a troublesome race of animals.

To smell a rat to be suspicious, to be on the watch from suspicion; as a cat by the scent or noise of a rat

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Word of the Day

importance

IMPORT'ANCE, n.

1. Weight; consequence; a bearing on some interest; that quality of any thing by which it may affect a measure, interest or result. The education of youth is of great importance to a free government. A religious education is of infinite importance to every human being.

2. Weight or consequence in the scale of being.

Thy own importance know.

Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.

3. Weight or consequence in self-estimation.

He believes himself a man of importance.

4. Thing implied; matter; subject; importunity. [In these senses, obsolete.]

Random Word

foretop

FO'RETOP, n.

1. The hair on the forepart of the head.

2. That part of a woman's headdress that is forward, or the top of a periwig.

3. In ships, the platform erected at the head of the foremast. In this sense, the accent on the two syllables is nearly equal.

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