rat run
verb1
Idiomatic To drive through residential streets to avoid congestion on the main roads.
- Synonyms
- divebomb
rat run
noun1
Idiomatic A small, usually minor road used by a significant amount of traffic as a short cut or to avoid congestion on more major routes.
- This week Wykeham Street in Scarborough was named as the worst rat run in Britain. […] A ‘rat run’ sounds like some sort of charity jog by rodents keen to improve their image, but it is of course a side street that suffers from being heavily used by through-traffic as a short-cut.2007, John O'Farrell, I Have A Bream, Black Swan, →ISBN, page 43: