ratcatcher

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person employed to catch or destroy rats and other vermin

   The warehouse hired a ratcatcher after workers found gnawed sacks of grain.

2. 2
   noun

   historical or literary: an insulting name for a contemptible or quarrelsome person

   The swordsman dismissed his rival as a ratcatcher unworthy of respect.

A compound of rat + catcher, recorded for a professional rat hunter from the late sixteenth century. Its insulting literary use was popularized by Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, where Mercutio applies it contemptuously to Tybalt.

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