pack rat

(redirected from a pack rat)

Like this video? Subscribe to our free daily email and get a new idiom video every day!

pack rat

A person who collects and hoards worthless items. Primarily heard in US. My old roommate was such a pack rat that, after six months, I could barely walk through the living room without tripping over his collection of junk.

See also: pack, rat

See also:

References in periodicals archive ?

For a person, life as a pack rat is one of obsessively collecting, say, newspapers, computer parts, food containers, or maybe all of these.

"A friend of mine lost his glasses to a pack rat," says Kenneth Cole of the U.S.

Pack rat piles: rodent rubbish provides ice age thermometer

If you have a tendency to be a pack rat, you might have a habit of holding on to things "just in case." To help overcome the pack rat habit, ask yourself the following questions before keeping anything: "If I need this again, can I get it again with reasonable effort?" The answer is almost always yes.

We're creatures of habit

Idioms browser ?

Full browser ?

CITE

Site: Follow: Share:

Open / Close