rat run

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rat run (plural rat runs)

1. (idiomatic) A small, usually minor road used by a significant amount of traffic as a short cut or to avoid congestion on more major routes.
   • 2007, John O'Farrell, I Have A Bream, Black Swan, →ISBN, page 43:

     This week Wykeham Street in Scarborough was named as the worst rat run in Britain. […] A ‘rat run’ sounds like some sort of charity jog by rodents keen to improve their image, but it is of course a side street that suffers from being heavily used by through-traffic as a short-cut.

rat run (third-person singular simple present rat runs, present participle rat running, simple past rat ran, past participle rat run)

1. (idiomatic) To drive through residential streets to avoid congestion on the main roads.

• (to drive through residential streets to avoid congestion): divebomb