Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Same as
rash . - To stretch or pull asunder.
- To spot or streak.
- Nautical, to make a stretch or varying stretches in sailing; sail by the wind or by tacks; stand off and on.
- noun A subsoil of stone and gravel mixed with clay.
- To cut; to hack; to notch.
- noun In a machine, a bar having angular teeth, into which a pawl drops, to prevent the machine from being reversed in motion. A circular ratch is a ratchet-wheel.
- noun In clockwork, a sort of wheel having fangs, which serve to lift the detents and thereby cause the clock to strike.
- noun A straight line.
- noun A white mark on the face of a horse.
- noun A dog that hunts by scent.
- noun There are in England and Scotland two kinds of hunting dogs: the first is called a rache; and this is a footscenting creature, both of wild beasts, birds, and fishes also which lie hid among the rocks; the female hereof is called in England a brache.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Same as
rotche . - noun A ratchet wheel, or notched bar, with which a pawl or click works.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
ratchet wheel ; a toothed wheel engaging a detent or pawl.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun mechanical device consisting of a toothed wheel or rack engaged with a pawl that permits it to move in only one direction
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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The day gathers pace at sunset with the mordant dance-punk of LCD Soundsystem, whose best songs steadily ratch up the intensity.
Glastonbury festival 2010
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Just listened to Nadine Dorris ratch the whole, 'terror in their eyes' shtick up to No 11.
Will the Telegraph be culpable if there's a suicide? Jeff 2009
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So, do you expect the rhetoric to really ratch it up especially that tough talk as they go into Super Tuesday so someone can really pull ahead.
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Above, the molehole cap began to descend, ratch-eting downward until it was once more level with the surface.
The Chronicles of Riddick Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 2004
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Ratch/ratch -- trigger noise -- Spade loved to get zorched and play with guns.
Hollywood Nocturne Ellroy, James 1994
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When all in pieces, before you proceed to clean, examine with a strong glass to see if the rim of any wheel is rubbing or clashing with anything, particularly the center wheel in any full plate American watch, for these wheels are often dragging on the plate or striking the ratch wheel because it is not true, and if examined before cleaning the places where it drags, are a tell-tale of the mischief.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 664, September 22,1888 Various
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"Just ratch back and forth and keep heavin 'the lead."
Captain Scraggs or, The Green-Pea Pirates Gordon [Illustrator] Grant 1918
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But as soon's the chance is better, then well ratch her off once more,
Blow The Man Down A Romance Of The Coast - 1916 Holman Day 1900
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The teeth of the ratch and ratchet have so gentle an inclination on one side of each, that although the ratch applies force to the ratchet in the upward direction, they slide freely over in their return.
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One was a large, fat, full-sized chestnut, with a white ratch down the full extent of his face, a long square tail, bushy mane, with untrimmed heels.
Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities Robert Smith Surtees 1833
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