Link Centre Dictionary

ratchet

ratc·het

UK/ˈɹæt͡ʃɪt/ US/rættʃʌt/ uncommon slang us
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

mechanical device consisting of a toothed wheel or rack engaged with a pawl that permits it to move in only one direction

Synonyms

verb

1.

move by degrees in one direction only

  • “a ratcheting lopping tool”
Synonyms

Origin

Possibly a variant (representing a Southern or specifically Louisianan pronunciation) of wretched. Compare rasslin' for wrestling.

Phrases

  • Brownian ratchet
  • Feynman-Smoluchowski ratchet
  • full ratchet
  • Muller's ratchet
  • ratchet coupling
  • ratchet drill
  • ratchet effect
  • ratchet jack
  • ratchet up
  • ratcheting toadlet

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Parts

Part of

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.