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rack up

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rack

1  [rak]
Use rack up 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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To rack up
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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
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.
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rack up

  1. in.
    to become alcohol intoxicated. (See also racked (up).) : Let's go down to the tavern and rack up.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

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 up

Accumulate or score, as in Last night's episode of that new sitcom racked up at least fifteen points in the ratings. [Colloquial; mid-1900s]

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