ratting

1. (archaic) The blood sport of setting a dog upon rats confined in a pit to see how many he will kill in a given time.Examples: "Henry Mayhew, the nineteenth-century chronicler of London's underworld, described the frenzied activity of one ratting contest. A terrier — the best of ratting dogs — was placed into a pit with 50 rats."; "Bear and bull baiting, dog fights, cockfighting, ratting, and other blood sports were attacked as un-Christian […]"; "The RSPCA were well aware that ratting was legally ambiguous, and when they received a report of a conviction for ratting in Hull in 1868 they doubted the legality of it."Synonyms: rat-baitingarchaicuncountableusually

2. (uncountable) A vocation involving the pest control of rats, typically using a working terrier.uncountableusually