[rak-uh
n-pin-yuhn] 
| of or pertaining to a mechanism in which a rack engages a pinion: rack-and-pinion steering. |
[rak] | 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.
|
| 5. | Machinery.
|
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 18. | rack out, Slang. to go to bed; go to sleep: I racked out all afternoon. |
| 19. | rack up,
|
| rack and pinion n. A device for the conversion of rotary and linear motion, consisting of a pinion and a mated rack. rack'-and-pin'ion (rāk'ən-pĭn'yən) adj. |