ratchet

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a toothed wheel or bar with a pawl that permits motion in one direction while preventing motion in the other

   The ratchet clicked as the wheel advanced one tooth at a time.

2. 2
   noun

   a hand tool, especially a socket wrench, that uses a ratchet mechanism

   She changed the socket on the ratchet before loosening the bolt.

3. 3
   verb

   to move or cause something to change by a series of one-way steps

   The new demand could ratchet costs up throughout the industry.

Common collocations

• ratchet screwdriver Noun + noun

From French rochet, originally a blunt lance head and later a bobbin or ratchet, related to Italian rocchetto ("spool"). The English spelling was influenced by ratch, another name for the toothed mechanism. The verb developed from the noun.

Topics

External links

• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary
• Google Images