lab rat

[ lab rat ]

1. Also called lab·o·ra·to·ry rat [lab, -r, uh, -tawr-ee rat, lab, -er-, uh, -]. a rat, typically the Norway rat, used by scientists for biological research.
2. Informal. a laboratory researcher, often a graduate student, whose dedication to the research supplants other interests and activities, including personal relationships:

   The loneliest guy in the room is the one who’s in love with a lab rat.

3. Informal. the subject of any sort of experiment:

   Not all the human lab rats in this study fully understood the potential consequences.

Word History and Origins

Origin of lab rat¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

For a scene in which a lab rat dies and then reanimates, Álvarez enlisted Tippett Studio, the outfit run by legendary effects master Phil Tippett, to make a model rodent move through stop-motion animation.

From Los Angeles Times

I grew up with dyslexia, which was a relatively new diagnosis then and I was treated like a lab rat.

From Los Angeles Times

We’re like a lab rat that keeps taking the bit of cheese that’s attached to an electrical wire.

From Los Angeles Times

In 2018, Hatch Escapes debuted a highly regarded escape room in Lab Rat, a comedic horror show in which the roles of humans and test rodents are flipped.

From Los Angeles Times

While it won praise for its mixing of digital and analog media, as well as its emphasis on storytelling, Lab Rat is still what many of us understand an escape room to entail.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• experimental subject
• subject
• test subject