"plague rat" meaning in English

See plague rat in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: plague rats [plural]
Etymology: Modern sense coined during the COVID-19 pandemic as a reference to rats being a common carrier of disease, possibly also looking at the role of rats in the Black Plague and influenced by the use of "rat" as a derogatory insult in general. Head templates: {{en-noun}} plague rat (plural plague rats)
  1. A rat which acts as a vector of the plague; a sewer rat. Categories (topical): Coronavirus Categories (lifeform): Murids
    Sense id: en-plague_rat-en-noun-ZwhAS8jQ Disambiguation of Coronavirus: 62 38 Disambiguation of Murids: 79 21 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 74 26 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 76 24 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 77 23
  2. (derogatory, neologism) Someone who refuses to follow anti-pandemic rules and guidelines or even takes actions, such as attending unnecessary events, that promote the spread of illness. Tags: derogatory, neologism
    Sense id: en-plague_rat-en-noun-bvT~uMac Categories (other): English neologisms

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "Modern sense coined during the COVID-19 pandemic as a reference to rats being a common carrier of disease, possibly also looking at the role of rats in the Black Plague and influenced by the use of \"rat\" as a derogatory insult in general.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plague rats",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "plague rat (plural plague rats)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "74 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "76 24",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "77 23",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "62 38",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Coronavirus",
          "orig": "en:Coronavirus",
          "parents": [
            "Disease",
            "Health",
            "Body",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "79 21",
          "kind": "lifeform",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Murids",
          "orig": "en:Murids",
          "parents": [
            "Rodents",
            "Mammals",
            "Vertebrates",
            "Chordates",
            "Animals",
            "Lifeforms",
            "All topics",
            "Life",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1903 February 8, The Truth, Sydney, page 3, column 4:",
          "text": "She was found to be one of the type of white women whose nasal organs appear never to have been developed, and who take to the loathsome Mongolian and his filthy hovel as blithely as a plague rat to a sewer.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rat which acts as a vector of the plague; a sewer rat."
      ],
      "id": "en-plague_rat-en-noun-ZwhAS8jQ",
      "links": [
        [
          "vector",
          "vector"
        ],
        [
          "plague",
          "plague"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English neologisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020 September 14, Ezra Lloyd, “Meet Sean Feucht: The Plague Rat Throwing ‘Worship Protests’ to Maskless Audiences Across The Country”, in Salt, archived from the original on 2022-02-04:",
          "text": "This Plague Rat is planning superspreader events across the country and complaining that he and all of his prosperity gospel pals are “under attack”.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 July 23, Ed Hutcheson, “Letters: Take your medicine - Relearn the lessons of the 1600's”, in The Palm Beach Post:",
          "text": "It’s a simple concept. You’re either contributing to humanity’s fight against this pestilence or you’re a plague rat. Don’t be a plague rat.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 January 2, Joel Maxwell, “I won't, can't, go home this summer”, in Sunday Star-Times, Wellington, New Zealand, page 14:",
          "text": "People are waxing their surfboards, or whatever surf-people do, waxing their bodies, polishing up their summer reading lists, and googling sangria recipes: preparing to live their best plague-rat lives. This whole thing is crazy, and makes me uneasy.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone who refuses to follow anti-pandemic rules and guidelines or even takes actions, such as attending unnecessary events, that promote the spread of illness."
      ],
      "id": "en-plague_rat-en-noun-bvT~uMac",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(derogatory, neologism) Someone who refuses to follow anti-pandemic rules and guidelines or even takes actions, such as attending unnecessary events, that promote the spread of illness."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "neologism"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Black Plague",
    "COVID-19 pandemic"
  ],
  "word": "plague rat"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Coronavirus",
    "en:Murids"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Modern sense coined during the COVID-19 pandemic as a reference to rats being a common carrier of disease, possibly also looking at the role of rats in the Black Plague and influenced by the use of \"rat\" as a derogatory insult in general.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "plague rats",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "plague rat (plural plague rats)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1903 February 8, The Truth, Sydney, page 3, column 4:",
          "text": "She was found to be one of the type of white women whose nasal organs appear never to have been developed, and who take to the loathsome Mongolian and his filthy hovel as blithely as a plague rat to a sewer.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A rat which acts as a vector of the plague; a sewer rat."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "vector",
          "vector"
        ],
        [
          "plague",
          "plague"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English neologisms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020 September 14, Ezra Lloyd, “Meet Sean Feucht: The Plague Rat Throwing ‘Worship Protests’ to Maskless Audiences Across The Country”, in Salt, archived from the original on 2022-02-04:",
          "text": "This Plague Rat is planning superspreader events across the country and complaining that he and all of his prosperity gospel pals are “under attack”.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2021 July 23, Ed Hutcheson, “Letters: Take your medicine - Relearn the lessons of the 1600's”, in The Palm Beach Post:",
          "text": "It’s a simple concept. You’re either contributing to humanity’s fight against this pestilence or you’re a plague rat. Don’t be a plague rat.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2022 January 2, Joel Maxwell, “I won't, can't, go home this summer”, in Sunday Star-Times, Wellington, New Zealand, page 14:",
          "text": "People are waxing their surfboards, or whatever surf-people do, waxing their bodies, polishing up their summer reading lists, and googling sangria recipes: preparing to live their best plague-rat lives. This whole thing is crazy, and makes me uneasy.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Someone who refuses to follow anti-pandemic rules and guidelines or even takes actions, such as attending unnecessary events, that promote the spread of illness."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(derogatory, neologism) Someone who refuses to follow anti-pandemic rules and guidelines or even takes actions, such as attending unnecessary events, that promote the spread of illness."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "neologism"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Black Plague",
    "COVID-19 pandemic"
  ],
  "word": "plague rat"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-28 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (65a6e81 and 0dbea76). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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