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  • (noun) - (1) Originally, a rhyme or piece of poetry used in charming and killing rats. The term . . . came to mean halting metres, doggerel, a tirade of nonsense.

    --David Donaldson's Supplement to Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary, 1887

    (2) The fanciful idea that rats were commonly rhymed to death, in Ireland, arose probably from some metrical charm or incantation used there for that purpose.

    --Robert Nares' Glossary of the Works of English Authors, 1859

    (3) Rhime them to death, as they do in Irish rats / In drumming tunes.

    --Ben Jonson's Poetaster, 1601

    January 17, 2018