ratchet
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Ratchet_Drawing.svg/220px-Ratchet_Drawing.svg.png)
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French rochet (“bobbin, spindle, ratchet”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Italian rocchetto (“spool, ratchet”).
Noun
ratchet (plural ratchets)
- A pawl, click, or detent for holding or propelling a ratchet wheel, or ratch, etc.
- A mechanism composed of a ratchet wheel, or ratch and pawl.
- A ratchet wrench.
- (by extension) A procedure or regulation that goes in one direction, usually up.
- 2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly[1], volume 188, number 2, page 23:
- 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.
Translations
pawl, click or detent for a ratchet wheel
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mechanism composed of a ratchet wheel and pawl
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ratchet wrench
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
ratchet (third-person singular simple present ratchets, present participle ratcheting, simple past and past participle ratcheted)
- (transitive) To cause to become incremented or decremented.
- It's time to ratchet up the intensity level here.
- (intransitive) To increment or decrement.
Translations
transitive
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intransitive
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Etymology 2
Possibly a variant (representing a Southern or specifically Louisianan pronunciation) of wretched.
Adjective
ratchet (comparative more ratchet, superlative most ratchet)
- (US, slang) Ghetto; unseemly, indecorous.
Derived terms
Anagrams
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