Much like a rat who violently digs out an opening to his nest, used to describe a person who spends an enormous amount of time on tiny details.
by cryptometaphor July 18, 2009
A person who intermittently raises a matter they know will lead to personal anxiety for a friend or acquaintenance; a person who wilfully wants to take a person down a rathole of discomfort.
Paul decided to bring up the matter of lazy civil servants with Ted again. Paul was being a ratholer
by proust23 June 19, 2011
A topic of conversation that has diverted wildly from the original conversational thread and is generally viewed by all (but the one leading the topic) as being without resolution, or at the very least is uninteresting to others in the group. Ratholes usually open up when related but tangential topics are discussed which are explored in much more detail than is required for the relational reference to the original thread.
I was trying to keep things on topic, but you've opened up a big rathole with all this talk of comic book plot twists.
by Stark Raven Mad August 2, 2007
Your significant other things you spent $1,000, however you stashed it away for keeping. You have "ratholed" $1,000.
by 1015s July 8, 2009
Poker jargon for a no-limit strategy of buying in for only a small amount and leaving the game as soon as the buy-in is doubled.
by c88pokahz April 29, 2010
Ratholing can take the form of scamming someone or just generally handing them a bad beat. A rathole can also be an income account in the world of accounting and finance.
by BoddyT August 6, 2011
The act of losing between 45-120 minutes while performing click-throughs from the initial Wikipedia page you were interested in.... often leading you to knowledge that has no relationship what-so-ever to your original search.
Man, I was lost 2 hours and missed a meeting because I went down a Wikipedia Rathole. However, I do now know that Richie Sambora is was born in Woodbridge, NJ.
NOTE: Original search was snow fall amounts in the NE.
NOTE: Original search was snow fall amounts in the NE.
by spaceman2004 October 29, 2009