ratty
noun1
Synonym of knock down ginger (“prank of knocking on a front door and running away”).
ratty
adjUK /ˈɹæti/ · US /ˈɹæti/
Etymology From rat + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjective).
1
Resembling or characteristic of a rat; ratlike.
2
Infested with rats.
3
Figuratively, Informal In 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 cup, and a ratty old bed-quilt off the bed, […] and just as we were leaving I found a tolerable good curry-comb, and Jim he found a ratty old fiddle-bow, and a wooden leg.1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter IX, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 78:
- The Marcher lord was still clad in his ratty black cloak and dented breastplate with its chipped enamel lightning.2000 August 8, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “Arya [Stark]”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), London: Voyager, →ISBN, page 443:
1 more example
- I was having exactly that thought on a ratty mock-leather couch in Islington.2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 80:
4
Australia, Figuratively, Informal Crazy, mad; ridiculous; slightly strange, eccentric; also (followed by about, on, or over), attracted to, infatuated with.
5
Figuratively, Informal Annoyed, 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.2009, Ian McDonald, River of Gods: