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wreak - 6 dictionary results

wreak

[reek]
–verb (used with object)
1. to inflict or execute (punishment, vengeance, etc.): They wreaked havoc on the enemy.
2. to carry out the promptings of (one's rage, ill humor, will, desire, etc.), as on a victim or object: He wreaked his anger on the office staff.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME wreken, OE wrecan; c. G rächen to avenge, ON reka to drive, avenge, Goth wrikan to persecute; akin to L urgēre to drive, push


wreaker, noun


1. visit, vent, unleash.
wreak   (rēk)   
tr.v.   wreaked, wreak·ing, wreaks
  1. To inflict (vengeance or punishment) upon a person.
  2. To express or gratify (anger, malevolence, or resentment); vent.
  3. To bring about; cause: wreak havoc.
  4. Archaic To take vengeance for; avenge.

[Middle English wreken, from Old English wrecan.]
Usage Note: Wreak is sometimes confused with wreck, perhaps because the wreaking of damage may leave a wreck: The storm wreaked (not wrecked ) havoc along the coast. The past tense and past participle of wreak is wreaked, not wrought, which is an alternative past tense and past participle of work.

Wreak

Wreak\, v. i. To reck; to care. [Obs.] --Shak.

Wreak

Wreak\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wreaked; p. pr. & vb. n. Wreaking.] [OE. wrek?? to revenge, punish, drive out, AS. wrecan; akin to OFries. wreka, OS. wrekan to punish, D. wreken to avenge, G. r["a]chen, OHG. rehhan, Icel. reka to drive, to take vengeance, Goth. wrikan to persecute, Lith. vargas distress, vargti to suffer distress, L. urgere to drive, urge, Gr. ? to shut, Skr. ? to turn away. Cf. Urge, Wreck, Wretch.]

1. To revenge; to avenge. [Archaic]

He should wreake him on his foes. --Chaucer.

Another's wrongs to wreak upon thyself. --Spenser.

Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain. --Fairfax.

2. To execute in vengeance or passion; to inflict; to hurl or drive; as, to wreak vengeance on an enemy.

On me let Death wreak all his rage. --Milton.

Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of seventeen years. --Macaulay.

But gather all thy powers, And wreak them on the verse that thou dost weave. --Bryant.

Wreak

Wreak\, n. [Cf. AS. wr[ae]c exile, persecution, misery. See Wreak, v. t.] Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment. [Obs.] --Shak. Spenser.

wreak 
O.E. wrecan "avenge," originally "to drive, drive out, punish" (class V strong verb; past tense wræc, pp. wrecen), from P.Gmc. *wrekanan (cf. O.S. wrekan, O.N. reka, O.Fris. wreka, M.Du. wreken "to drive, push, compel, pursue, throw," O.H.G. rehhan, Ger. rächen "to avenge," Goth. wrikan "to persecute"), from PIE base *werg- "to work, to do" (cf. Lith. vergas "distress," vergas "slave," O.C.S. vragu "enemy," L. urgere; see urge (v.)). Meaning "inflict or take vengeance," with on, is recorded from c.1489; that of "inflict or cause (damage or destruction)" is attested from 1817.
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