rathole

Meanings

Noun

• An entrance to a living area or passageway used by mice or rats.
• A living area used by mice or rats.
• A particularly squalid human residence.
• An area of a silo that has undergone ratholing, so that material moves mostly through the centre and accumulates around the edges.
• A pigeonhole.

Verb

• to hoard.
• to take a conversation off topic, especially in technical meetings.
• to surreptitiously or prematurely remove chips during a poker game.
• (of material) to empty only in the center of a hopper or silo, persisting circumferentially.

Origin

• rat + hole