smell a rat

S s

Definitions of smell a rat words

noun smell a rat any of several long-tailed rodents of the family Muridae, of the genus Rattus and related genera, distinguished from the mouse by being larger. 1
noun smell a rat any of various similar or related animals. 1
noun smell a rat Slang. a scoundrel. 1
noun smell a rat Slang. a person who abandons or betrays his or her party or associates, especially in a time of trouble. an informer. a scab laborer. 1
noun smell a rat Slang. a person who frequents a specified place: a mall rat; gym rats. 1
noun smell a rat a pad with tapered ends formerly used in women's hair styles to give the appearance of greater thickness. 1

before 1000

One of the 6% oldest English words

before 1000; Middle English rat(t)e, Old English ræt; cognate with Dutch rat, German Ratz, Ratte

noun

adjective

verb

adverb

pronoun

preposition

conjunction

determiner

exclamation

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 95% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.

Most Europeans know this English word. The frequency of it’s usage is somewhere between "mom" and "screwdriver".

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

call in question — a sentence in an interrogative form, addressed to someone in order to get information in reply.
distrust — to regard with doubt or suspicion; have no trust in.
doubt — to be uncertain about; consider questionable or unlikely; hesitate to believe.
misbelieve — to believe wrongly; hold an erroneous belief.
misdoubt — doubt or suspicion.