Dictionary

ratton en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹatən/ (UK)

Etymology

From Middle English ratoun, from Anglo-Norman ratoun and Middle French raton, corresponding to rat + -oon.

Meanings

1. (Ireland, Northern-England, Scotland) A rat.
   • “A Yorkshire burr,” he affirmed, “was as much better than a Cockney’s lisp, as a bull's bellow than a ratton’s squeak.” 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Mr. Yorke (continued)”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 67:
   • To dark is still used in Swaledale (Yorkshire) in the sense of to lie hid, as, 'Te rattens [rats] mun ha bin darkin whel nu [till now]; we hannot heerd tem tis last fortnith'. 1873, Richard Morris, Walter William Skeat, “Glossarial Index”, in Specimens of Early English, volumes II: From Robert of Gloucester to Gower, A.D. 1298—A.D. 1393, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 490:

Forms

Relateds

rattoner