trade rat
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of trade rat
First recorded in 1910–15
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.
That's why this particularly vexing rodent is called a "trade rat."
From I Married a Ranger by Smith, Dama Margaret
Well, he'll be savin' as a trade rat until we get our home paid for.
From The Round-Up A romance of Arizona novelized from Edmund Day's melodrama by Day, Edmund
He is a big, active fellow of a glossy gray color, and since he always leaves something in place of whatever he may carry off, he is often called the trade rat.
From Wealth of the World's Waste Places and Oceania by Gilson, Jewett Castello
Of course," said Father, "it was a trade rat.
From Little Tales of The Desert by Villa, Hernando G.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.