To forsake a losing side for the stronger party. It is said that rats forsake ships not weatherproof. A rat is one who rats or deserts his party. Hence workmen who work during a strike are called “rats.”
“Averting …
The cup of sorrow from their lips,
And fly like rats from sinking ships.”
Swift: Epistle to Mr. Nugent.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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