rack¹ (răk)

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[Middle English rakke, probably from Middle Dutch rec, framework.]

noun 

1. 1. A framework or stand in or on which to hold, hang, or display various articles: a trophy rack; a rack for baseball bats in the dugout; a drying rack for laundry.
   2. Games A triangular frame for arranging billiard or pool balls at the start of a game.
   3. A receptacle for livestock feed.
   4. A frame for holding bombs in an aircraft.
2. Slang A bunk; a bed.
3. A toothed bar that meshes with a gearwheel, pinion, or other toothed machine part.
4. 1. A state of intense anguish.
   2. A cause of intense anguish.
5. An instrument of torture on which the victim's body was stretched.
6. A pair of antlers.

transitive verb: racked, rack·ing, racks. 

1. To place (billiard balls, for example) in a rack.
2. To cause great physical or mental suffering to: Pain racked his entire body. See synonyms at afflict
3. To torture by means of the rack.

phrasal verbs

rack out

To go to sleep or get some sleep.

rack up

To accumulate or score: rack up points.

idioms

on the rack

Under great stress.

derivatives

racḱer

noun

rack² (răk)

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[Origin unknown.]

noun 

A fast, flashy, four-beat gait of a horse in which each foot touches the ground separately and at equal intervals.

intransitive verb: racked, rack·ing, racks. 

To go or move in a rack.

rack³ (răk)

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[Middle English rak, probably of Scandinavian originSwedish rak, wreckage.]

noun 

A thin mass of wind-driven clouds.

intransitive verb: racked, rack·ing, racks. 

To be driven by the wind; scud: low clouds racking by.

rack⁴ (răk)

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noun 

Variant of wrack¹

rack⁵ (răk)

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noun verb 

Variant of wrack²

rack⁶ (răk)

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[Middle English rakken, from Old Provençal arracar, from raca, stems and husks of grapes.]

transitive verb: racked, rack·ing, racks. 

To drain (wine or cider) from the dregs.

rack⁷ (răk)

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[Probably from rack¹.]

noun 

1. 1. A wholesale rib cut of lamb or veal between the shoulder and the loin.
   2. A retail rib cut of lamb or veal, prepared for roasting or for rib chops.
2. The neck and upper spine of mutton, pork, or veal.

wrack¹,
also rack (răk)

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[Middle English, from Old English wræc, punishment (influenced by Middle Dutch wrak, shipwreck).]

noun 

1. Destruction or ruin.
2. A remnant or vestige of something destroyed.

wrack²,
also rack (răk)

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[Middle English wrak, from Middle Dutch.]

noun 

1. 1. Wreckage, especially of a ship cast ashore.
   2. Chiefly British Violent destruction of a building or vehicle.
2. 1. Dried seaweed.
   2. Marine vegetation, especially kelp.

verb: wracked, also racked, wrack·ing, rack·ing, wracks, racks 

transitive verb 

To cause the ruin of; wreck.

intransitive verb 

To be wrecked.