English Explanatory Dictionary

ratchet

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A pawl, click, or detent for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc.
  2. A mechanism composed of a ratchet wheel, or ratch and pawl.
  3. A ratchet wrench.
  4. A procedure or regulation that goes in one direction, usually up.
  5. A mechanism for generating a new unique key for each message by moving forward in a sequence.
  6. A noisemaker or musical instrument where sound is generated by a board striking against a rotating gear.
  7. Ellipsis of full ratchet.
verb
  1. To increment or decrement; especially, to offer controlled motion that can increment while resisting decrement, or vice versa.
  2. To cause (something) to become incremented or decremented.
adj
  1. Ghetto; unseemly, indecorous.
noun
  1. A person, usually a female, who acts or behaves in a ghetto, unseemly, or indecorous way or manner.

Pronunciation

/ˈɹæt͡ʃɪt/ en-us-ratchet.ogg

Word forms

ratchet ratchets rachet ratcheting ratcheted more ratchet most ratchet

Etymology

From French rochet (“bobbin, spindle, ratchet”), from Italian rocchetto (“spool, ratchet”).

Derived words

Brownian ratchet Feynman-Smoluchowski ratchet full ratchet microratchet Muller's ratchet ratchet coupling ratchet drill ratchet effect ratchet jack ratchet jaw ratchet lever ratchetlike ratchet punch ratchet wrench ratchety thermoratchet nonratcheting ratcheting toadlet ratchet up unratcheted ratchetness

Translations

Catalan: cadell Catalan: trinquet Dutch: pal Finnish: räikkä French: rochet German: Sperrklinke Hebrew: רַעֲשָׁן Italian: nottolino Italian: cricchetto Persian: ضامن چرخ دنده Polish: zapadka Spanish: matraca Spanish: trinquete Spanish: linguete Spanish: pal Swedish: spärrhake
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