Definitions
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- 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.
- n. 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.
- n. In clockwork, a sort of wheel having fangs, which serve to lift the detents and thereby cause the clock to strike.
- n. A straight line.
- n. A white mark on the face of a horse.
- n. A dog that hunts by scent.
- n. 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.
- Same as rash.
- n. A subsoil of stone and gravel mixed with clay.
- To cut; to hack; to notch.
Wiktionary
- n. A ratchet wheel; a toothed wheel engaging a detent or pawl.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Zoöl.) Same as rotche.
- n. A ratchet wheel, or notched bar, with which a pawl or click works.
WordNet 3.0
- n. mechanical device consisting of a toothed wheel or rack engaged with a pawl that permits it to move in only one direction
Examples
“The day gathers pace at sunset with the mordant dance-punk of LCD Soundsystem, whose best songs steadily ratch up the intensity.”
“Just listened to Nadine Dorris ratch the whole, 'terror in their eyes' shtick up to No 11.”
“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.”
“Above, the molehole cap began to descend, ratch-eting downward until it was once more level with the surface.”
“Ratch/ratch -- trigger noise -- Spade loved to get zorched and play with guns.”
“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.”
“Just ratch back and forth and keep heavin 'the lead.”
“But as soon's the chance is better, then well ratch her off once more,”
“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.”
“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.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ratch’.
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dogs and their relatives
dog dogs and more dogs anything
I can think of ,canids and their
relatives
my favourite African wild dog
all have 42 teethaffenpinscher, akita, alan, aland, alant, alopecoid, apso, bandog, barbet, basenji, basset, bawtie and 355 more...
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Ratchet
From the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia:
"n. A detent or pivoted piece designed to fit into the teeth of a ratchet-wheel, permitting the wheel to rotate in one direction, but not in the ot...ratchet, ratchet-wheel, pallet, ratchet-wheel click, click-wheel, ratchet-pawl, dog, catch, click, pawl, ratchet bed-key, detent and 1 more...
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Horological Vocabulary
Just curious about using Wordnik's list functionality.
escapement, balance, detent, regulate, complication, balance wheel, caliber, ruby, movement, rate, lunette, simple movement and 10 more...
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Hey! L...
for the same
ichthyarchy, thalassic, nip-cheese, cerement, manavalins, rockweed, polder, semipalmate, blue peter, curragh, crowfoot, cat and 158 more...
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.names
remy, rolf, theobald, jerrick, dray, theade, torfin, roderick, eleazer, keller, leif, melrick and 149 more...
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Verbalitis
syncretic
anecdotal, phthisis, serendipitous, slapper, syncretic, sesquipedalian, hysteresis, polt, noyade, crocket, irenic, masquerade and 278 more...
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Words I Should Use In English Papers
exactly what the title said
snell, kitling, felo-de-se, ratch, salina, triskaidekaphobia, weltanschauung, literatim
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ratch.
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