ratting
noun1
Archaic, Usually The blood sport of setting a dog upon rats confined in a pit to see how many he will kill in a given time.
- 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.1993, Ronald H. Fritze, James Stuart Olson, Randy Roberts, Reflections on World Civilization: A Reader, volume 2, page 102:
- Bear and bull baiting, dog fights, cockfighting, ratting, and other blood sports were attacked as un-Christian […]2001, Colin D. Howell, Blood, Sweat and Cheers: Sport and the Making of Modern Canada:
3 more examples
- The RSPCA were well aware that ratting was legally ambiguous, and when they received a report of a conviction for ratting in Hull in 1868 they doubted the legality of it.2008, Rob Boddice, A History of Attitudes and Behaviours Toward Animals in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Britain, page 257:
- Such men usually satisfied their needs for leisure in the patronage of saloons or in such “blood” sports as cockfights or rattings.2008, Benjamin G. Rader, Baseball: A History of America's Game, page 12:
- This was the pit for dog fights, cockfights and rat killing. […] At a time when ratting was largely frowned upon by respectable people in Britain, it gained considerable support in France […]2012, Jan Bondeson, Amazing Dogs: A Cabinet of Canine Curiosities:
2
Usually A vocation involving the pest control of rats, typically using a working terrier.
3
Usually Desertion of one's principles.
4
Usually Working as a scab, against trade union policies.
- Derived terms
- ratting cap
- Related terms
- rat snake, rat terrier, rattrap, rat trap