ratchet

Pluralratchets

Formsratchets, ratcheting, ratcheted

1. 1
   wrenchnouncountable

   A hand wrench fitted with a ratchet, so it turns a nut or bolt one way and swings back freely without being lifted off.

   She keeps a ratchet and a set of sockets in the trunk for roadside repairs.

   Mechanics reach for a ratchet in tight spaces where an ordinary wrench has no room to swing.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A mechanism made of a toothed ratchet wheel, or ratch, together with a pawl.

   A ratchet in the rear hub lets a bicycle coast while the pedals stay still.

   A ratchet inside the jack keeps the car from sinking while the tire is changed.

3. 3
   verbtransitive

   To make something increase or decrease by steps.

   Rival networks have ratcheted up their spending on original shows.

   The company plans to ratchet down production as demand falls.

   Note

   Up and down are its usual partners: ratchet up the pressure, ratchet down production. Ratchet up is the commoner of the two, and it suits reports of escalation: a leader ratchets up a military campaign, a coach ratchets up the intensity. It suggests a deliberate rise in stages rather than a single jump, and one that is hard to take back.

4. 4
   move in notchesverbintransitive

   To move up or down in steps, especially with controlled motion that allows movement one way while resisting it the other.

   The adjustable headrest ratchets up a notch each time you lift it.

   Good scroll wheels ratchet with a crisp click instead of a mushy roll.

5. 5
   trashyadjectiveslangderogatoryUS

   Unseemly and improper in a way seen as crude or low-class.

   The reality show is known for its ratchet fights and table-flipping.

   Classy at work, a little ratchet on the weekend: that's how she describes herself.

   Similartrashy, tacky, classless

   Oppositeclassy, refined

   Note

   This is American slang with a contested edge. It may come from a Southern, specifically Louisianan, way of saying wretched, much as rasslin' stands for wrestling. Most uses are insults loaded with ideas about class, so it is risky to use about anyone else, though some singers and their fans have turned it into a boast about letting loose.

6. 6
   trashy personnounslangderogatoryUScountable

   A person, usually a woman, whose behavior is seen as crude, low-class and unseemly.

   The producers cast a few ratchets to guarantee drama every episode.

   She hated being called a ratchet just because she laughed loudly in public.

   Note

   As a noun it labels a whole person rather than a moment of behavior, which makes it harsher than the adjective. It is usually aimed at women and is meant to wound; even where the adjective has been reclaimed as a boast, calling someone a ratchet remains an insult.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   A process or rule that moves in only one direction, usually upward.

   Critics warned that the emergency powers would become a ratchet, easy to extend and hard to repeal.

   Each budget turns the ratchet of fees a little higher for students.

   Note

   The figure borrows the mechanism's one-way catch: each click holds, and nothing slips back. Political writers reach for it when powers or rules only ever accumulate, as when Simon Jenkins wrote in 2012 of British governments that each click up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Turn and click are its usual verbs, and the verb ratchet up carries the same idea.

8. 8
   nouncountable

   A small catch that engages a ratchet wheel, holding it still or driving it forward.

   A worn ratchet let the wheel slip back under the weight of the bucket.

   The clockmaker filed a new ratchet to hold the toothed wheel of the mainspring.

   Similarpawl

   Note

   Here the word names only the catch, the part also called a pawl, click or detent, rather than the whole toothed mechanism. The name came into English from French rochet, "bobbin, spindle, ratchet", and before that Italian rocchetto, "spool, ratchet", so its family began among the spools and spindles of winding gear.

9. 9
   rattlenouncountable

   A noisemaker or musical instrument that sounds when a board strikes against a rotating gear.

   The percussion section added a wooden ratchet, which gave a dry rattle when cranked.

   Children whirled their ratchets every time the villain's name was read aloud.

   Similarrattle, noisemaker

10. 10
    investingnounabbreviationellipsis

    Short for full ratchet.

    Lawyers for the startup tried to soften the ratchet, warning that a single down round could hand the seed investors a large block of extra shares.

    When the company raised its next round at half the earlier price, the ratchet reset the early backers' price to the new, lower figure, giving them far more shares.

    Note

    Dealmakers drop the full once the talk is plainly about a funding round, so investors simply say their agreement has a ratchet. In that setting it is an antidilution clause protecting earlier investors, not any piece of machinery, and how it works is spelled out under full ratchet. For readers outside finance, the full phrase is the clearer choice.

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