# ratting

Pronunciation: say "RAT-ing" /ˈɹætɪŋ/

## Verb

1. Present participle and gerund of rat. — present participle and gerund of rat
   - Simple: Present participle and gerund of rat. Use this -ing form for an action happening now or named as a thing.
   - _Workers accused him of ratting to management about the union meeting._
   - _Her dog goes ratting in the warehouse most evenings._

## Noun

2. The occupation of controlling rats as pests, typically using a working terrier.
   - Simple: The job of catching and killing rats, usually with a trained dog.
   - _For decades he made his living by ratting across the county's farms._
   - _Ratting kept the granaries free of vermin long before chemical pesticides._
3. The desertion of one's own principles.
   - Simple: Giving up the beliefs or values you once stood for.
   - _Years of ratting had left him without a single ally he trusted._
   - _Critics condemned the senator's ratting on the very reforms he had championed._
4. The act of working as a strikebreaker, against trade union policy.
   - Simple: Working during a strike, which goes against the union's rules.
   - _Other dockworkers branded his ratting an unforgivable betrayal._
   - _Ratting during the dispute marked him as an enemy of the union for life._

## Noun

5. A blood sport in which a dog was set upon rats penned in a pit, scored by how many it killed within a set time. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An old, cruel game where a dog killed as many rats in a pit as it could in a set time.
   - _On fight nights the cellar filled with men wagering on the ratting._
   - _The little terrier became a local legend of the ratting circuit._

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/ratting (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).