A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1990 (DOST Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1513, 1584-1689
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Rat-rime, -ryme, n. Also: ratt-rime, raterryme; rot-rhime; rat. [? Var. of ME and e.m.E. rote custom, habit, etc. (see SND Rat-rhyme) and Rime n.1 Also in the later dial., and, appar., the mod. dial. of Northumberland (1894).] A string of meaningless phrases; a rigmarole.Be rat ryme, by rote.(1) 1513 Doug. viii Prol. 147 (Ruddim.) (see Rat-rane n.).
Ratt rime a1585 Polwart Flyt. 140 (T).
Thy rowstie ratryme maid but mater a1605 Montg. Flyt. 356 (Hart).
Aye raving and raging in rude rat-rimes [H. raterrymes] 1606 Birnie Kirk-b. xii.
A ratryme of letanies 1638 Reasons for Which the Service Booke Ought to be Refused 3.
A rat-ryme of words sayd over without feeling a1650 Row 404.
What will a rat-ryme of words work upon an hard unrenewed heart? a1689 Cleland 58.
If I haue time And genius for a daft ratrymeellipt. 1671 McWard True Nonconf. 254.
If in hearty requests we our selves can neither be confined … to a rat of words put in our mouth nor relish the like practice from others [etc.](2) 1600-1610 Melvill 17.
My judgment and understanding war as yit smored … sa that the thing quhilk I gat was mair be rat ryme nor knawlage 1651 Causes of God's Wrath in Testimony-bearing Exemplified (1791) 78.
Or answering a question or two of the catechism by rot-rhime (as we say) when nothing of the meaning is understood, is by many taken for knowledge sufficient
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"Rat-rime n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 13 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/rat_rime>
