Meaning of Ratchet | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A pawl, click, or detent for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc.
2. A person, usually a female, who acts or behaves in a ghetto, unseemly, or indecorous way or manner.
   US, derogatory, slang
3. A mechanism composed of a ratchet wheel, or ratch and pawl.
4. A ratchet wrench.
5. A procedure or regulation that goes in one direction, usually up.
   broadly
6. A mechanism for generating a new unique key for each message by moving forward in a sequence.
7. A noisemaker or musical instrument where sound is generated by a board striking against a rotating gear.
8. Ellipsis of full ratchet.
   abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis

Equivalents

Examples

“The threat of terrorism to the British lies in the overreaction to it of British governments. Each one in turn clicks up the ratchet of surveillance, intrusion and security. Each one diminishes liberty.”

“Ahead of them a group of mandibulous sales men had set up their combustion cups and incendiary ratchets to demonstrate their wares to whatever officers might come by.”

“I love it when jaboons let their jibbering get them in 5 times as much trouble as they're already in. Let's see if this ratchet can keep her dick trap shut in court.”

CEFR level