ratling (ratling)

A corruption of ratline. ratmara (rat'ma-rä), n. [Native name.] An East Indian lichen, used in dyeing. rat-mole (rat'mōl), n. Same as mole - rat. ratont, n. An obsolete form of ratten. ratonert, n. See rattener. Ratonia (ra-tō'ni-a), n. [NL.] A former genus of Sapindaceæ, now referred to Matayba. See bastard mahogany, under mahogany. ratoon (ra-tön'), n. [Also rattoon; = Sp. retoño, a new sprout or shoot (> retoñar, sprout anew, put forth shoots again), T. Roughley, Jamaica Planter's Guide (1823), p. 344. Next year [second crop] the cane sprouts from the stubble, and is called first ratoons . The second year it sprouts again, and is called second ratoons . Dict . The Century , XXXV. 111. 2. The heart-leaves in a tobacco-plant. Imp. ratoon (ra-tön'), v. i. [= Sp. retoñar, sprout or spring up anew; from the noun: see ratoon, n.] To sprout or send up new shoots from the root after being cropped or cut down: said of the sugar-cane and some other plants. The cocos, ca avas, and sweet potatoes will ratoon in two or three years; the negro yams are a yearly crop, but the white yams will last in the ground for several years. T. Roughley, Jamaica Planter's Guide, p. 317. On the Upper Coast, above New Orleans, it is customary to let the stubble ratoon but once. In Cuba it often ra toons six succe ive years, but the cane becomes constantly more woody and poorer in saccharine matter. The Century , XXXV. 111.