rat terrier

a terrier of any of several breeds developed especially for catching rats, as the Manchester terrier.

Origin of rat terrier

First recorded in 1850–55

She would know how to depress a rat-terrier with it and make a lap-dog look sorry he came.

The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories |Mark Twain
A rat-terrier believes that on his home grounds he can whip an elephant.

Penrod |Booth Tarkington
Only the point of it stuck up; the rest was clipped as clean as a rat-terrier's.

The Underdog |F. Hopkinson Smith
He lacked imagination, and he had the manner of a rat-terrier toward people not of his own kind; but he was one good executive.

The U-boat hunters |James B. Connolly

As for rats, everybody knows that one rat-terrier in a granary is better than an army of cats.

Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 20, August 1877 |Various