ratfink

rat·fink

(răt′fĭngk′)

n. Slang

A person regarded as contemptible, obnoxious, or otherwise undesirable.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ratfink

(ˈrætˌfɪŋk)

slang chiefly US and Canadian a contemptible or undesirable person

[C20: from rat + fink]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fink

(fɪŋk) Slang. n.

1. a strikebreaker.

2. a labor spy.

3. an informer.

4. a contemptible person.

v.i.

5. to inform to the police; squeal.

6. to act as a strikebreaker; scab.

7. fink out, to renege.

[1900–05]

Translations

ratfink

n (dated US sl) → Arschloch nt (sl); (= informer) → Spitzel m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in periodicals archive ?

The term reminds us of "Big Daddy" Roth's creation of the "Ratfink," the anti-Mickey Mouse who stood as an insult to Walt Disney's saccharine worldview.

Cars and Culture: Rat Rods

This might happen possibly when his ratfink father has an attack of conscience a few years down the line.

Just Joan: Should I say his dad died?

'For our first Christmas together, he sent me a company card with the message, "To the one who's always there, from the ratfink who never is." It was this boring card with a robin on the front, not the kind you send to your lover.