Gratchet

[nq:1]What is the definition?... of gratchet It might be a kind of tool or hardware. The Online Etymology Dictionary does not have an entry for... gratchet[/nq]
Might it be cratchet (an obsolete form of crochet)? Or is it "ratchet" in a phrase you've heard (like "cog ratchet")?
John Dean
Oxford

Could you provide a context?

...is it a kind of tool used in assembling a children's backyard swing set, but then what kind of tool exactly?

[nq:1]...is it a kind of tool used in assembling a children's backyard swing set, but then what kind of tool exactly?[/nq]
Onelook.com, which indexes many dictionaries, finds no entry.

Could it be a typographical error for "ratchet" as in "ratchet wrench"?

M-W.com on "ratchet":
1 : a mechanism that consists of a bar or wheelhaving inclined teeth into which a pawl drops so

[nq:2]...is it a kind of tool used in assembling a children's backyard swing set, but then what kind of tool exactly?[/nq]
[nq:1]Onelook.com, which indexes many dictionaries, finds no entry. Could it be a typographical error for "ratchet" as in "ratchet wrench"? ... motion in one direction only A wrench is something else in British English, what is it oh, a spanner.[/nq]
Not always. We hav

[nq:2]Onelook.com, which indexes many dictionaries, finds no entry. Could it ... in British English, what is it oh, a spanner.[/nq]
[nq:1]Not always. We have wrenches too, especially the notorious monkey-wrench.[/nq]
I think of monkey wrench as an Americanism, but not pipe wrench or torque wrench.
Mike Page
(Who just got fed up with the previous sig.)

What entry does the unabridged oxford english dictionary have regarding?... gratchet
Is not the unabridged oed is not available on the web?.. or via some libraries, universities, colleges or other affiliations web access mechanisms?

[nq:1]What entry does the unabridged oxford english dictionary have regarding?... gratchet[/nq]
I thought we'd covered that already: it's not there. No entry in Partridge's D. of Historical Slang , either.
It must be a mistake. The best suggestion we've seen has been something to do with "ratchet": there are "ratchet spanners/wrenches". "Socket wrenches" have a drive-handle with a reversib

[nq:2]What entry does the unabridged oxford english dictionary have regarding?... gratchet[/nq]
[nq:1]I thought we'd covered that already: it's not there. No entry in Partridge's D. of Historical Slang , either. ... wrenches" have a drive-handle with a reversible ratchet mechanism, and that's what I'd usually use for the job you describe.[/nq]
Dejagoogle has a few hits on "gratchet" that s

[nq:1]What entry does the unabridged oxford english dictionary have regarding?... gratchet[/nq]
Not there, either as an entry or in any quotations.
[nq:1]Is not the unabridged oed is not available on the web?.. or via some libraries, universities, colleges or other affiliations web access mechanisms?[/nq]
California residents can get access through the Los Angeles Public Library. (But