wrack - Definitions from Dictionary.com

10 results for: wrack

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

wrack1

–noun

1.	wreck or wreckage.

2.	damage or destruction: wrack and ruin.

3.	a trace of something destroyed: leaving not a wrack behind.

4.	seaweed or other vegetation cast on the shore.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to wreck: He wracked his car up on the river road.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME wrak (n.), OE wræc vengeance, misery, akin to wracu vengeance, misery, wrecan to wreak

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
wrack

To learn more about wrack visit Britannica.com

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

wrack2

Audio Help [rak] Pronunciation Key

–noun, verb (used without object)

rack⁴.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

wrack¹ also rack Audio Help (rāk) Pronunciation Key
n.

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

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

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

wrack² also rack Audio Help (rāk) Pronunciation Key
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.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
wrack (n.)

c.1386, "wrecked ship," probably from M.Du. wrak "wreck," cognate with O.E. wræc "misery, punishment," and wrecan "to punish, drive out" (see wreak). The meaning "damage, disaster, destruction" (in wrack and ruin) is from c.1408, from the O.E. word. Sense of "seaweed, etc., cast up on shore" is recorded from 1513. The verb meaning "to ruin or wreck" (originally of ships) is recorded from 1562, from earlier intrans. sense "to be shipwrecked" (1470). Often confused in this sense since 16c. with rack (1) in the verb sense of "to torture on the rack;" to wrack one's brains is thus erroneous.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

wrack
noun
1.	dried seaweed especially that cast ashore
2.	the destruction or collapse of something; "wrack and ruin"
3.	growth of marine vegetation especially of the large forms such as rockweeds and kelp [syn: sea wrack]
verb
1.	smash or break forcefully; "The kid busted up the car" [syn: bust up]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Wrack

Blad"der\, n. [OE. bladder, bleddre, AS. bl?dre, bl?ddre; akin to Icel. bla?ra, SW. bl["a]ddra, Dan. bl[ae]re, D. blaar, OHG. bl[=a]tara the bladder in the body of animals, G. blatter blister, bustule; all fr. the same root as AS. bl[=a]wan, E. blow, to puff. See Blow to puff.]

1. (Anat.) A bag or sac in animals, which serves as the receptacle of some fluid; as, the urinary bladder; the gall bladder; -- applied especially to the urinary bladder, either within the animal, or when taken out and inflated with air.

2. Any vesicle or blister, especially if filled with air, or a thin, watery fluid.

3. (Bot.) A distended, membranaceous pericarp.

4. Anything inflated, empty, or unsound. "To swim with bladders of philosophy." --Rochester.

Bladder nut, or Bladder tree (Bot.), a genus of plants (Staphylea) with bladderlike seed pods.

Bladder pod (Bot.), a genus of low herbs (Vesicaria) with inflated seed pods.

Bladdor senna (Bot.), a genus of shrubs (Colutea), with membranaceous, inflated pods.

Bladder worm (Zo["o]l.), the larva of any species of tapeworm (T[ae]nia), found in the flesh or other parts of animals. See Measle, Cysticercus.

Bladder wrack (Bot.), the common black rock weed of the seacoast (Fucus nodosus and F. vesiculosus) -- called also bladder tangle. See Wrack.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Wrack

Reak\, n. [????. Cf. Wrack seaweed.] A rush. [Obs.] "Feeds on reaks and reeds." --Drant.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Wrack

Sea" wrack`\ (Bot.) See Wrack.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Wrack

Var"ec\, n. [F. varech; of Teutonic origin. See Wrack seaweed, wreck.] The calcined ashes of any coarse seaweed used for the manufacture of soda and iodine; also, the seaweed itself; fucus; wrack.

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