Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus. Many members of other rodent genera and families are also referred to as rats, and share many characteristics with true rats. Rats are typically distinguished from mice by their size; rats are generally large muroid rodents, while mice are generally small muroid rodents. The muroid family is very large and complex, and the common terms rat and mouse are not taxonomically specific. Generally, when someone discovers a large muroid, its common name includes the term rat, while if it is small, the name includes the term mouse - scientifically, the terms are not confined to members of the Rattus and Mus genera. Compare the taxonomic classification of the pack rat and cotton mouse. The best-known rat species are the Black Rat (Rattus rattus) and the Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus). The group is generally known as the Old World rats or true rats, and originated in Asia. Rats are bigger than most Old World mice, which are their relatives, but seldom weigh over

An informer is one who reveals confidential information in return for money.

desert one's party or group of friends, for example, for one's personal advantage

(give away information about somebody) "He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam"

Ratt is an American heavy metal band that formed in San Diego and enjoyed significant commercial success in the 1980s. The band is most notable for their songs "Round and Round," "Wanted Man," "Lay It Down," "You're in Love", "Way Cool Jr." and "Back For More." Though the group lost popularity in the following decade, Ratt has been recognized as instrumental in the formation of the early 1980s Los Angeles hard rock and glam metal scene. The band has sold an estimated 11 million records in the U.S. while worldwide album sales are approximated at over 20 million. VH1 slotted the band at #79 on its "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock". Their 7th studio album, Infestation, is due to be released in March 2010. Ratt's music is influenced by 1970s hard rock and glam rock bands such as Aerosmith, Sweet, Van Halen and Kiss. They fused this style with heavy metal influences, including Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Although they later incorporated more of a blues-rock sound into their music, the band was one of the first glam metal style groups that appeared in the early 1980s in California. Their image bore similarities to that of Rough Cutt, which had several members who were previously in

The Rat (鼠) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Rat is associated with the earthly branch symbol 子. In some parts of the world, a year associated with this animal 鼠 is referred to as Year of the Mouse because the word may be translated to "rat", "mouse", or more broadly, "rodent". Persons born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the "year of the Rat," while also bearing the following elemental sign:

Rat was the preferred nickname of the musician Gareth Pring (born 8 November 1970, Sedgley, West Midlands) Rat is most famous for being the guitarist in the early 1990s indie punk band, Ned's Atomic Dustbin Rat was a founding member of the band, and stayed in situ from 1987 to 1995. Ned's Atomic Dustbin had a string of hit singles between 1990 and 1995, among them, "Grey Cell Green" and "Kill Your Television" and "Not Sleeping Around". Shortly after the success of Godfodder, Rat said, "people ask me all the time if I consider myself successful now, or need a No. 1 album before I feel I've validated myself. As long as I'm happy, I don't care. As soon as you start worrying too much about the numbers, you're bound to get miserable." On Neds' sound, Rat elaborates, "We wanted to do a lot of things musically, one of which was to create something that was the antithesis to dance music. I think that by having two basses, our music sounds a lot heavier than other bands that only have one, and we're totally into that. Whether that was our intent when we formed the group, I can't honestly say." In a 1992 interview, in response to the grebo label, ("In English schoolyard lingo, "grebo" is the

Rat Subterranean News, New York's second major underground newspaper, was created in March 1968, primarily by editor Jeff Shero, Alice Embree and Gary Thiher, who moved up from Austin, Texas, where they had been involved in The Rag. Probably more than any other underground paper, Rat was in the eye of the political hurricane, making news as well as reporting it. Rat immediately attained national notoriety for its exclusive inside stories from the Columbia University student uprising in the spring of 1968. Its notoriety grew further when a couple of staff members (including star reporter Jane Alpert) were arrested in connection with a series of non-lethal bombings of corporate offices and military targets in late 1969. Its reputation took a new turn when it became the first bastion of sexism within "the revolution" to be successfully stormed by the forces of the emerging women's movement in early 1970. In its new incarnation as Women's LibeRATion, it lasted another few issues into the fall of 1970. While the East Village Other, published a few blocks away, represented the countercultural "establishment" with its arty covers and relatively relaxed culture-oriented content, Rat

Rat is a character in the comic strip Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis. Rat is a megalomaniacal rat, who is frequently critical of the strip's style and artwork, as well as the other characters in the strip, and almost all living (and some nonliving) things. He believes himself to be more intelligent than he actually is, and thinks more or less anybody else is stupid. He tends to aggravate people, particularly his intelligent friend Goat, and is easily aggravated by his naￃﾯve, dim-witted housemate Pig. Rat is also a con artist, as he is often taking up professions he knows almost nothing about and charging people a lot of money, often insulting or confusing his customers, co-workers and boss in the process. At times, other companies make the mistake of hiring him, in which case Rat is usually rude to his customers and employers. In the comic's history, Rat has hosted several jobs for varying lengths of time. Some of them include a marriage counselor, a book store information guide, a Feng Shui expert, a telemarketer, a supermarket cashier, a reporter for the New York Times, a pizza parlor manager, a stockbroker, a life coach, an oil company CEO, and a coffee shop

"Rat" is a science fiction short story by James Patrick Kelly. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story 1987, and the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in 1986. In a chaotic, decentralized future, a drug-running rat tries to make a big haul.

Rat is a 2000 Irish/British/American comedy film directed by Steve Barron. The film focuses on the story of young chinese boy "Rat" (Jeff Cheng), raised in England during the early 90's and dealing with everyday life as a child growing up in England. As the film's story progressess Jeff comes to deal with several hardships, such as: the death of his goldfish Alfonso, discovering that Santa Claus is indeed not real, soiling himself at a friend's birthday party when confronted by a scary clown Andrew Lovern who suffers from tourettes syndrome, and a re-occuring nightmare about Tommy Dreamer from World Wrestling Entertainment hitting him with a trash can while asleep in his bed. The film ends abruptly when Jeff discovers the ancient art of "Rat-Fu", a martial art passed down through generations of master to pupil and taught to him by a kindly tramp (Bob Hoskins) whom he saves from a flock of aggressive pigeons. It is thought that the films sudden ending was due to lack of funds, but the conclusion at such a crucial and potentially story expanding moment is thought to be the main reason for the films commercial failure. Imelda Staunton as Conchita Flynn Frank Kelly as Uncle Matt David

Rat is a fictional character in the 2009 animated adventure comedy film Fantastic Mr. Fox.