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wreck - 7 dictionary results

wreck

  [rek]
Use wreck in a Sentence
–noun
1. any building, structure, or thing reduced to a state of ruin.
2. wreckage, goods, etc., remaining above water after a shipwreck, esp. when cast ashore.
3. the ruin or destruction of a vessel in the course of navigation; shipwreck.
4. a vessel in a state of ruin from disaster at sea, on rocks, etc.
5. the ruin or destruction of anything: the wreck of one's hopes.
6. a person of ruined health; someone in bad shape physically or mentally: The strain of his work left him a wreck.
–verb (used with object)
7. to cause the wreck of (a vessel); shipwreck.
8. to involve in a wreck.
9. to cause the ruin or destruction of: to wreck a car.
10. to tear down; demolish: to wreck a building.
11. to ruin or impair severely: Fast living wrecked their health.
–verb (used without object)
12. to be involved in a wreck; become wrecked: The trains wrecked at the crossing.
13. to act as a wrecker; engage in wrecking.
Origin:
1200–50; (n.) ME wrec, wrech, wrek < ODan wrækæ wreck; (v.) late ME, deriv. of the n.

Synonyms:
9. destroy, devastate, shatter. See spoil.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To wreck
wreck   (rěk)   
n.  
  1. The act of wrecking or the state of being wrecked; destruction.
  2. Accidental destruction of a ship; a shipwreck.
    1. The stranded hulk of a severely damaged ship.
    2. Fragments of a ship or its cargo cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck; wreckage.
  4. The remains of something that has been wrecked or ruined.
  5. Something shattered or dilapidated.
  6. A person who is physically or mentally broken down or worn out.
v.   wrecked, wreck·ing, wrecks

v.   tr.
  1. To cause the destruction of in or as if in a collision.
  2. To dismantle or raze; tear down.
  3. To cause to undergo ruin or disaster. See Synonyms at blast, ruin. See Usage Note at wreak.
v.   intr.
  1. To suffer destruction or ruin; become wrecked.
  2. To work as a wrecker.

[Middle English wrek, from Anglo-Norman wrec, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse rec, wreckage.]
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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Wreck

Wreck\, v. t. & n. See 2d & 3d Wreak.

Wreck

Wreck\, n. [OE. wrak, AS. wr[ae]c exile, persecution, misery, from wrecan to drive out, punish; akin to D. wrak, adj., damaged, brittle, n., a wreck, wraken to reject, throw off, Icel. rek a thing drifted ashore, Sw. vrak refuse, a wreck, Dan. vrag. See Wreak, v. t., and cf. Wrack a marine plant.] [Written also wrack.]

1. The destruction or injury of a vessel by being cast on shore, or on rocks, or by being disabled or sunk by the force of winds or waves; shipwreck.

Hard and obstinate As is a rock amidst the raging floods, 'Gainst which a ship, of succor desolate, Doth suffer wreck, both of herself and goods. --Spenser.

2. Destruction or injury of anything, especially by violence; ruin; as, the wreck of a railroad train.

The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds. --Addison.

Its intellectual life was thus able to go on amidst the wreck of its political life. --J. R. Green.

3. The ruins of a ship stranded; a ship dashed against rocks or land, and broken, or otherwise rendered useless, by violence and fracture; as, they burned the wreck.

4. The remain of anything ruined or fatally injured.

To the fair haven of my native home, The wreck of what I was, fatigued I come. --Cowper.

5. (Law) Goods, etc., which, after a shipwreck, are cast upon the land by the sea. --Bouvier.

Wreck

Wreck\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wrecked; p. pr. & vb. n. Wrecking.]

1. To destroy, disable, or seriously damage, as a vessel, by driving it against the shore or on rocks, by causing it to become unseaworthy, to founder, or the like; to shipwreck.

Supposing that they saw the king's ship wrecked. --Shak.

2. To bring wreck or ruin upon by any kind of violence; to destroy, as a railroad train.

3. To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.

Weak and envied, if they should conspire, They wreck themselves. --Daniel.

Wreck

Wreck\, v. i. 1. To suffer wreck or ruin. --Milton.

2. To work upon a wreck, as in saving property or lives, or in plundering.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : wreck
Spanish: restos,
German: das Wrack,
Japanese: 難破船
More Translations »

wreck  (n.)
1228, "goods cast ashore after a shipwreck, flotsam," from Anglo-Fr. wrec, from O.N. *wrek (cf. Norw., Icel. rek) "wreck, flotsam," related to reka "to drive, push" (see wreak). The meaning "a shipwreck" is first recorded 1463; that of "a wrecked ship" is from 1500. General sense of "remains of anything that has been ruined" is recorded from 1713; applied by 1795 to dissipated persons. The verb meaning "to destroy, ruin" is first recorded 1510. Wreckage is first attested 1837.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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