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Rack

 - 22 dictionary results
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rack

1  [rak]
Use Rack in a Sentence
–noun
1. a framework of bars, wires, or pegs on which articles are arranged or deposited: a clothes rack; a luggage rack.
2. a fixture containing several tiered shelves, often affixed to a wall: a book rack; a spice rack.
3. a spreading framework set on a wagon for carrying hay, straw, or the like, in large loads.
4. Pool.
a. a wooden frame of triangular shape within which the balls are arranged before play.
b. the balls so arranged: He took aim at the rack.
5. Machinery.
a. a bar, with teeth on one of its sides, adapted to engage with the teeth of a pinion (rack and pinion) or the like, as for converting circular into rectilinear motion or vice versa.
b. a bar having a series of notches engaging with a pawl or the like.
6. a former instrument of torture consisting of a framework on which a victim was tied, often spread-eagled, by the wrists and ankles, to be slowly stretched by spreading the parts of the framework.
7. a cause or state of intense suffering of body or mind.
8. torment; anguish.
9. violent strain.
10. a pair of antlers.
11. Slang. a bed, cot, or bunk: I spent all afternoon in the rack.
–verb (used with object)
12. to torture; distress acutely; torment: His body was racked with pain.
13. to strain in mental effort: to rack one's brains.
14. to strain by physical force or violence.
15. to strain beyond what is normal or usual.
16. to stretch the body of (a person) in torture by means of a rack.
17. Nautical. to seize (two ropes) together side by side.
—Verb phrases
18. rack out, Slang. to go to bed; go to sleep: I racked out all afternoon.
19. rack up,
a. Pool. to put (the balls) in a rack.
b. Informal. to tally, accumulate, or amass as an achievement or score: The corporation racked up the greatest profits in its history.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME rakke, rekke (n.) < MD rac, rec, recke; cf. MLG reck, G Reck

Related forms:
rack⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
7. torture, pain, agony, tribulation, ordeal. 12. See torment.
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rack

2  [rak]
–noun
1. ruin or destruction; wrack.
—Verb phrase
2. rack up, Slang. to wreck, esp. a vehicle.
—Idiom
3. go to rack and ruin, to decay, decline, or become destroyed: His property went to rack and ruin in his absence.
Origin:
1590–1600; var. of wrack 1

rack

3  [rak]
–noun
1. the fast pace of a horse in which the legs move in lateral pairs but not simultaneously.
–verb (used without object)
2. (of horses) to move in a rack.
Origin:
1570–80; perh. var. of rock 2

rack

4  [rak]
–noun
1. Also called cloud rack. a group of drifting clouds.
–verb (used without object)
2. to drive or move, esp. before the wind.
Also, wrack.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME rak, reck(e); orig. uncert.

rack

5  [rak]
–verb (used with object)
to draw off (wine, cider, etc.) from the lees.
Origin:
1425–75; late ME < OF; cf. obs. F raqué (of wine) pressed from the dregs of grapes

rack

6  [rak]
–noun
1. the neck portion of mutton, pork, or veal.
2. the rib section of a foresaddle of lamb, mutton, or sometimes veal.
Origin:
1560–70; orig. uncert.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Rack
rack 1   (rāk)   
n.  

    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.

    5. A state of intense anguish.

    6. A cause of intense anguish.

  2. Slang A bunk; a bed.

  3. A toothed bar that meshes with a gearwheel, pinion, or other toothed machine part.

    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.

tr.v.   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 Verb(s):
rack out Slang To go to sleep or get some sleep.
rack up Informal To accumulate or score: rack up points.

Idiom(s):
on the rackUnder great stress.

[Middle English rakke, probably from Middle Dutch rec, framework; see reg- in Indo-European roots.]
rack'er n.
rack 2   (rāk)   
n.  A fast, flashy, four-beat gait of a horse in which each foot touches the ground separately and at equal intervals.
intr.v.   racked, rack·ing, racks
To go or move in a rack.

[Origin unknown.]
rack 3   (rāk)   
n.  A thin mass of wind-driven clouds.
intr.v.   racked, rack·ing, racks
To be driven by the wind; scud: low clouds racking by.

[Middle English rak, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Swedish rak, wreckage.]
rack 4   (rāk)   
n.  Variant of wrack1.
rack 5   (rāk)   
n.   & v.
Variant of wrack2.
rack 6   (rāk)   
tr.v.   racked, rack·ing, racks
To drain (wine or cider) from the dregs.

[Middle English rakken, from Old Provençal arracar, from raca, stems and husks of grapes.]
rack 7   (rāk)   
n.  

    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.


[Probably from rack1.]
wrack 1 also rack   (rāk)   
n.  

  1. Destruction or ruin.

  2. A remnant or vestige of something destroyed.


[Middle English, from Old English wræc, punishment (influenced by Middle Dutch wrak, shipwreck).]
wrack 2 also rack   (rāk)   
n.  

    1. Wreckage, especially of a ship cast ashore.

    2. Chiefly British Violent destruction of a building or vehicle.

    3. Dried seaweed.

    4. Marine vegetation, especially kelp.

    1. Dried seaweed.

    2. Marine vegetation, especially kelp.

v.   wracked also racked, wrack·ing also rack·ing, wracks also racks

v.   tr.
To cause the ruin of; wreck.
v.   intr.
To be wrecked.

[Middle English wrak, from Middle Dutch.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
rack

  1. n.
    a bed. : You don't get to see the rack very much in the army.

  2. Go to rack (out). :
  3. n.
    a pair of [female] breasts. (Usually objectionable.) : Look at the rack on that dame! How can she stand upright?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
rack (out)

  1. in.
    to go to sleep or to bed. (See also rack.) : What time do you rack out?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
rack (sth)

  1. tv.
    to accumulate something; to collect or acquire something. : We racked up twenty points in the game last Saturday.
  2. tv.
    to wreck something. : He racked up his arm in the football game.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

rack  (1)
"frame with bars," c.1305, possibly from M.Du. rec "framework," related to recken "stretch out," cognate with O.E. reccan "to stretch out," from P.Gmc. *rakjanan (cf. O.N. rekja, O.Fris. reza, O.H.G. recchen, Ger. recken, Goth. uf-rakjan "to stretch out"). The verb meaning "to sleep" is teen-ager slang from 1960s (rack was Navy slang for "bed" in 1940s). Meaning "instrument of torture" first recorded c.1460 (verb meaning "to torture on the rack" is from 1433), perhaps from Ger. rackbank, originally an implement for stretching leather, etc. Fig. sense of "agony" is from 1591. Mechanical meaning "toothed bar" is from 1797 (see pinion). Meaning "set of antlers" is first attested 1945, Amer.Eng.; hence slang sense of "a woman's breasts" (especially if large), c.1980s. Off the rack in ref. to clothing is from 1962. Rack up "register accumulate, achieve" is first attested 1961, probably from method of keeping score in pool halls.

rack  (2)
"gait of a horse," 1530 (implied in racking), perhaps from Fr. racquassure "racking of a horse in his pace," of unknown origin. Or perhaps a variant of rock (v.1).

rack  (3)
"clouds driven before the wind," c.1300, also "rush of wind, collision, crash," possibly from O.E. racu "cloud," reinforced by O.N. rek "wreckage, jetsam," or by influence of O.E. wræc "something driven." Originally a northern word, perhaps from an unrecorded Scand. cognate of O.E. racu. Often confused with wrack (q.v.), especially in phrase rack and ruin (1599). The distinction is that rack is "driven clouds;" wrack is "seaweed cast up on shore."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

rack

In addition to the idioms beginning with rack, also see on the rack.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
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