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Fine Dictionary

ratel

WordNet
  1. (n) ratel
    nocturnal badger-like carnivore of wooded regions of Africa and southern Asia
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  1. Ratel
    rā"tĕl (Zoöl) Any carnivore of the genus Mellivora, allied to the weasels and the skunks; -- called also honey badger.☞ Several species are known in Africa and India. The Cape ratel (Mellivora Capensis) and the Indian ratel (Mellivora Indica) are the best known. The back is gray; the lower parts, face, and tail are black. They are fond of honey, and rob the nests of wild bees.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  1. (n) ratel
    A carnivorous quadruped of the family Mustelidæ and subfamily Mellivorinæ as Mellivora capensis or M. ratellus. the honey-ratel of the Cape of Good Hope, and M. indica, that of India; a honey-badger. See Mellivora, and cut in next column.
  2. (n) ratel
    See rotl.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
  1. (n) Ratel
    rā′tel a genus of quadrupeds of the bear family, nearly allied to the gluttons, and very like the badgers.
Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary F

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary Fr., dim. of rat.

Usage in scientific papers

Halbwachs, N., Lagnier, F., and Ratel, C. 1992.
EPspectra: A Formal Toolkit for Developing DSP Software Applications

Usage in literature

The woman Bryond starts on horseback, disguised as a man, accompanied by Ratel, Mallet, and the girl Godard. "The Brotherhood of Consolation" by Honore de Balzac

The Zibu or mbuide flies at the tendon Achilles; it is most likely the Ratel. "The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume II (of 2), 1869-1873" by David Livingstone

If he had done with the ratel, the ratel had not done with him. "The Way of the Wild" by F. St. Mars

Some years ago, before I knew exactly what they were, the Ratels in the London Zoological Gardens used to interest me greatly. "Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon" by Robert A. Sterndale

The Ratels Hoek drift will be running twelve feet deep before we get there if we don't look smart. "Aletta" by Bertram Mitford

WHY THE RATEL IS SO KEEN ON HONEY. "Old Hendrik's Tales" by Arthur Owen Vaughan

But the deep boom of new-comers swept the earlier songsters out of the field: "Ik rammel, ik ratel en ik scheur". "The Further Adventures of O'Neill in Holland" by J. Irwin Brown

She went there a great deal to study the animals, and was particularly fond of the "poor dear ratel" that used to turn somersaults. "George Eliot" by Mathilde Blind