ratissage

English

Etymology

From French ratissage, from ratisser (“to rake”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹatɪˈsɑːʒ/

Noun

ratissage (plural ratissages)

1. A raid (especially violent) carried out by the police or military, originally and chiefly carried out by the French in Algeria. [from 1950s] and, prior to that, by the Milice (Vichy Government counter-terror police) in 1943-44.
   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 26:

     The army […] subjected suspect Muslim villages to systematic ratissage – literally a ‘raking-over’, a time-honoured word for ‘pacifying’ operations.

   • 2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 220:

     A second group of security men had appeared from within the museum, and lashed out with their clubs like warriors in a battle scene from a Kurasawa epic. […] ‘It's another ratissage. A special action.’

2. (economics) A monetary device whereby national reserves are temporarily given up to a central bank. [from 1950s]

French

Etymology

From ratisser +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.ti.saʒ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

ratissage m (plural ratissages)

1. raking, combing, sweeping
2. (law enforcement slang) search, search and sweep (operation), ratissage

Further reading

• “ratissage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.