rack
1 (răk)
[Middle English rakke, probably from Middle Dutch rec, framework.]
noun
- 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.
- Games A triangular frame for arranging billiard or pool balls at the start of a game.
- A receptacle for livestock feed.
- A frame for holding bombs in an aircraft.
- Slang A bunk; a bed.
- A toothed bar that meshes with a gearwheel, pinion, or other toothed machine part.
- A state of intense anguish.
- A cause of intense anguish.
- An instrument of torture on which the victim's body was stretched.
- A pair of antlers.
transitive verb: racked, rack·ing, racks.
- To place (billiard balls, for example) in a rack.
- To cause great physical or mental suffering to: Pain racked his entire body. See synonyms at afflict
- 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
rack
2 (răk)
[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.
rack
3 (răk)
[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.
rack
4 (răk)
noun
- Variant of wrack1
rack
5 (răk)
noun verb
- Variant of wrack2
rack
6 (răk)
[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.
rack
7 (răk)
[Probably from rack1.]
noun
- A wholesale rib cut of lamb or veal between the shoulder and the loin.
- A retail rib cut of lamb or veal, prepared for roasting or for rib chops.
- The neck and upper spine of mutton, pork, or veal.
wrack
1,
also rack
(răk)
[Middle English, from Old English wræc, punishment (influenced by Middle Dutch wrak, shipwreck).]
noun
- Destruction or ruin.
- A remnant or vestige of something destroyed.
wrack
2,
also rack
(răk)
[Middle English wrak, from Middle Dutch.]
noun
- Wreckage, especially of a ship cast ashore.
- Chiefly British Violent destruction of a building or vehicle.
- Dried seaweed.
- 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.