ˈrat-ˌcatcher
[f. rat n.1]
1. a. One whose business it is to catch rats. Also transf. and fig.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. i. 78 Tybalt, you Rat-catcher, will you walke? 1623 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons (1860) App. 44 To the ratcatcher..for bating the house. 1668 Davenant Man's the Master iii. ii, I rather fear 'tis the old rat-catcher, your master, that has caught us here in a trap. 1772 T. Simpson Vermin-Killer i, The nobility, farmers, &c...send for a man, known in the country by the name of a rat-catcher. 1814 Chalmers in Life (1851) I. 399 The gains..from the calling of a rat-catcher. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Lab. No. 45 The Rat-catchers of the Sewers. |
b. Applied to animals.
| 1704 Baldeus' Ceylon lii, in Churchill Voyages III. 827/1 The Land-Serpents call'd Ratcatchers are..very large. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxix. 395 He [a fox] had only one fault as a rat-catcher; he would never catch a second till he had eaten the first. |
2. Unconventional hunting dress. Also transf. and attrib.
| 1910 Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 310 He came back to the bar, after he'd changed into those rat-catcher clothes. 1928 J. B. Thomas Hounds & Hunting 254 Rat-catcher—referring to one informally dressed when hunting. 1930 Field 29 Nov. 764/1 The self-respecting beginner will want to be turned out properly, in the right ‘rat-catcher style’. 1933 A. Powell From View to Death viii. 200 Both sons were in ratcatcher and Torquil wore a canary-coloured waistcoat. 1963 M. Malim Pagoda Tree xvi. 101 While one could exhibit oneself and did to the Cricket Club in rat-catcher, so to speak, one had to dress for presentation on the Thursday committee night at the Tulyar. 1976 Horse & Hound 3 Dec. 32/2 (Advt.), Moleskin ratcatcher trousers. Warm, tough, supple. Shirt-grip self-supporting waist... Slim leg style. 1977 ‘E. Crispin’ Glimpses of Moon xi. 205 Nor were they a very distinguished Hunt: the men mostly turned up in ratcatcher (Fen had that morning noted one..who was wearing a hoicked-up caftan and prayer beads above his shining riding boots). |