ratbag

British

/ ˈrætˌbæɡ /

noun

slang a despicable person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of ratbag

C20: from _rat + _bag

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Under very different circumstances, two women return to the coastal resort where they grew up, 17 years on from accusations that they murdered their duplicitous ratbag schoolteacher.

From The Guardian • Apr. 19, 2013

"Jules wasn't a ratbag or anything," one of his classmates from the public school in Goolmangar, Sharon Graham, told the Australian on Dec. 11.

From Time • Dec. 16, 2010

The word subtle does not seem relevant to Australian behavior, but there is the lovely word ratbag, which is a term of endearment reserved primarily for politicians.

From Time Magazine Archive

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023