ratcheting

Pluralratchetings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of ratchet. Use it after "is" or "are", or as the name of the action.

   Prices keep ratcheting up at the grocery store.

   She is ratcheting the strap tight across the boxes in the truck.

   Note
2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Making something go up or down in small steps, or one time it happens.

   The slow ratcheting of prices made food hard to afford.

   With each ratcheting of the jack, the car rose a little higher.

   Similarescalation

3. 3
   noununcountable

   A magic trick where metal is bent back and forth in secret so it breaks later when rubbed.

   The magician used ratcheting to make the spoon seem to break by itself.

   She learned ratcheting from an old book of magic tricks.

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