rathole

See also: rat hole

English

Etymology

From rat +‎ hole.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

rathole (plural ratholes)

1. An entrance to a living area or passageway used by mice or rats.
2. A living area used by mice or rats, or a similar living area used by other animals.
   • 1913, Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, page 122:

     Bhantus catch the sanda, or broad-tailed lizard, which dwells in rat-holes in the ground and lives always in fear of the cobra.

3. A particularly squalid human residence or other place.
4. An area of a silo that has undergone ratholing, so that material moves mostly through the centre and accumulates around the edges.
5. (printing) A pigeonhole.

Derived terms

• pound sand into a rathole

Translations

an entrance to a living area or passageway used by mice or rats

• German: Rattenloch (de) n
• Italian: topaia (it) f
• Swedish: råtthål (sv) n
• Tagalog: uot
• Turkish: fare deliği (tr)

a particularly squalid human residence

• French: trou à rats (fr), nid à rats (fr)
• Italian: topaia (it) f
• Swedish: råttbo (sv) n
• Turkish: çöplük (tr)
• Ukrainian: діра (dira), блощи́чник (uk) (bloščýčnyk)

Verb

rathole (third-person singular simple present ratholes, present participle ratholing, simple past and past participle ratholed)

1. (transitive) To hoard.
2. (transitive) To take a conversation off topic, especially in technical meetings.
3. (transitive, poker) To surreptitiously or prematurely remove chips during a poker game.
4. (intransitive, poker) To exit a cash game and re-enter with a smaller stack.
5. (intransitive) (of material) To empty only in the center of a hopper or silo, persisting circumferentially.

Synonyms

• (to hoard): amound, intreasure; see also Thesaurus:amass

Derived terms

• enough sense to pound sand into a rathole

Anagrams

• loather