ratty means resembling or characteristic of a rat; ratlike. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 70 out of 100.
ratty is pronounced /ˈɹæti/.
adj
- Resembling or characteristic of a rat; ratlike.
- Infested with rats.
- In poor condition or repair.“We got an old tin lantern, and a butcher knife without any handle, and a bran-new Barlow knife worth two bits in any store, and a lot of tallow candles, and a tin candlestick, and a gourd, and a tin cup, and a ratty old bed-quilt off the bed, […] and just as we were leaving I found a tolerable good curry-comb, and Jim he found a ratty old fiddle-bow, and a wooden leg.”
- Crazy, mad; ridiculous; slightly strange, eccentric; also (followed by about, on, or over), attracted to, infatuated with.
- Annoyed, bad-tempered, irritable.“He got bad, he got ratty, he would take it out on people around him. He was mean when it turned against him.”
noun
- Synonym of knock down ginger (“prank of knocking on a front door and running away”).