LAB RAT Definition & Meaning

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lab rat

[ lab rat ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

Also called lab·o·ra·to·ry rat [lab, -r, uh, -tawr-ee rat, lab, -er-, uh, -]. a rat, typically the Norway rat, used by scientists for biological research.
Informal. a laboratory researcher, often a graduate student, whose dedication to the research supplants other interests and activities, including personal relationships:
The loneliest guy in the room is the one who’s in love with a lab rat.
Informal. the subject of any sort of experiment:
Not all the human lab rats in this study fully understood the potential consequences.

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of lab rat¹

First recorded in 1965–70

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Example Sentences

Fittingly, Pattinson hunches his shoulders and curls his upper lip: an obedient lab rat.

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For a scene in which a lab rat dies and then reanimates, Álvarez enlisted Tippett Studio, the outfit run by legendary effects master Phil Tippett, to make a model rodent move through stop-motion animation.

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I grew up with dyslexia, which was a relatively new diagnosis then and I was treated like a lab rat.

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We’re like a lab rat that keeps taking the bit of cheese that’s attached to an electrical wire.

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In 2018, Hatch Escapes debuted a highly regarded escape room in Lab Rat, a comedic horror show in which the roles of humans and test rodents are flipped.

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