ratchet

[rach-it]

noun

a toothed bar with which a pawl engages.
(not in technical use) a pawl or the like used with a ratchet or ratchet wheel.
a mechanism consisting of such a bar or wheel with the pawl.

ratchet wheel.
a steady progression up or down: the upward ratchet of oil prices.

verb (used with or without object)

to move by degrees (often followed by up or down): to ratchet prices up; Interest rates have been ratcheting downward.

Origin of ratchet

1650–60; alteration of French rochet; Middle French rocquet a blunt lance-head < Germanic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ratcheted

Contemporary Examples of ratcheted

First, Republican legislatures have ratcheted up the attempts at suppression.
Why Judge Posner Changed His Mind On Voter ID Laws
Richard L. Hasen
October 23, 2013
The IMF ratcheted down its estimate for global growth this week.
The Business/Consumer Confidence Split
Matthew Zeitlin
October 10, 2012
Many owe the lasting success of older players to the increasing value placed upon raw power as racket technology has ratcheted up.
U.S. Open: Why Serena Williams Has Still Got Game
Nicholas McCarvel
September 2, 2012
Because doing more, they say, would have ratcheted up expectations that he might win, making a loss all the more devastating.
Many Candidates Are MIA in the 2012 Iowa Caucuses
Howard Kurtz
December 9, 2011
Later in the day, she ratcheted up the sentiment: "Arghhhhh!"
The Quirks in the Sarah Palin Emails
Shushannah Walshe, Michael Falcone
June 12, 2011

British Dictionary definitions for ratcheted

ratchet

noun

a device in which a toothed rack or wheel is engaged by a pawl to permit motion in one direction only
the toothed rack or wheel forming part of such a device

verb

to operate using a ratchet
(usually foll by up or down) to increase or decrease, esp irreversiblyelectricity prices will ratchet up this year; Hitchcock ratchets up the tension once again

Word Origin for ratchet

C17: from French rochet, from Old French rocquet blunt head of a lance, of Germanic origin: compare Old High German rocko distaff

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

Word Origin and History for ratcheted

ratchet

1650s, rochet, from French rochet "bobbin, spindle," from Italian rocchetto "spool, ratchet," diminutive of rocca "distaff," possibly from a Germanic source (cf. Old High German rocko "distaff," Old Norse rokkr), from Proto-Germanic *rukka-, from PIE root *ruk- "fabric, spun yarn." Cf. rocket (n.2). Current spelling in English dates from 1721, influenced by synonymous ratch, which perhaps is borrowed from German Rätsche "ratchet."

ratchet

1852, from ratchet (n.). Transferred sense attested by 1977. Related: Ratcheted; ratcheting.