rack
1a framework of bars, wires, or pegs on which articles are arranged or deposited: a clothes rack;a luggage rack.
a fixture containing several tiered shelves, often affixed to a wall: a book rack;a spice rack.
a vertical framework set on the sides of a wagon and able to be extended upward for carrying hay, straw, or the like in large loads: It's an old wagon, but the bale rack is new.
Pool.
a wooden frame of triangular shape within which the balls are arranged before play: When not in use, please return the rack to its peg on the wall.
the balls so arranged: He took aim at the rack.
Machinery.
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: When the pinion mounted to the locomotive engages with the rack between the rails, the train can ascend a steep slope.
a bar having a series of notches engaging with a pawl or the like: Instead of a round gear, this ratchet has a linear rack with which the pawl makes contact.
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: The racks were unspeakably horrid devices used for centuries throughout Europe.
a cause or state of intense mental or physical suffering, torment, or strain: Too many workers have suffered on the rack of annual, painful increases in their health insurance premiums.
a pair of antlers: What hunting lodge would be complete without an eight-point rack mounted above the fireplace?
Slang: Vulgar. a woman's breasts.
Slang. a large quantity of money, especially one thousand dollars: I spent a whole rack on this fancy dinner and it wasn't worth it.The engagement ring he bought her cost a couple of racks.
Slang. a bed, cot, or bunk, especially in an institutional context such as the military or a prison: I spent all afternoon in my rack.
to torture; distress acutely; torment: His body was racked with pain.
to strain in mental effort: She racked her brains to come up with an excuse not to go to the party.
to strain by physical force or violence: Was this suspect racked into a confession?
to strain beyond what is normal or usual: This extreme exercise is racking your muscles.
formerly, to stretch the body of (a person) in torture by means of a rack: The prisoner will be taken to the dungeon to be racked.
Nautical. to seize (two ropes) together side by side: Rack those lines, mate!
rack out, Slang. to go to bed; go to sleep: I racked out all afternoon.
rack up,
Informal. to tally, accumulate, or amass, as an achievement or score: The corporation racked up the greatest profits in its history.
Pool. to put (the balls) in a rack: You rack 'em up, and I'll break.
Origin of rack
1synonym study For rack
Other words for rack
Other words from rack
- rack·ing·ly, adverb
Words that may be confused with rack
- rack , wrack
Words Nearby rack
Other definitions for rack (2 of 6)
ruin or destruction; wrack:We found our boat in a complete state of rack.
rack up, Slang. to wreck, especially a vehicle: People don't realize how easy it is to rack up a car in this fog.
Origin of rack
2Other definitions for rack (3 of 6)
the fast pace of a horse in which the legs move in lateral pairs but not simultaneously: Playing the video in slow motion catches each footfall in the horse's rack.
(of horses) to move in a rack: a group of mustangs racking at top speed.
Origin of rack
3Other definitions for rack (4 of 6)
Also called cloud rack . a group of drifting clouds: The first rays of dawn struggle to pierce the dreary rack of storm clouds.
be driven or moved, as a cloud, before the wind: a wispy train of clouds racking to our west.
Origin of rack
4- Also wrack .
Other definitions for rack (5 of 6)
to draw off (wine, cider, etc.) from the lees: How recently was this wine racked into a clean barrel?
Origin of rack
5Other definitions for rack (6 of 6)
the rib section of a foresaddle of lamb, mutton, pork, or sometimes veal: a roasted rack of lamb with potatoes and asparagus.
(formerly) the neck portion of mutton, pork, or veal.
Origin of rack
6Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use rack in a sentence
Bake on the center rack of the oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until set.
The clever crooks managed to rack up $2 million in profits over a year, Ares said.
The Insane $11 Billion Scam at Retailers’ Return Desks | M.L. Nestel | December 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTWhereas other brands purchase their barrels from big producers more or less off the rack, The Macallan starts in the forest.
He put them in glamorous gowns, yes, but also encouraged them to buy trendier ready-to-wear labels off the rack.
How Oscar de la Renta Created First Lady Fashion | Raquel Laneri | October 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTJenny and Ichabod rack their brains before eventually deciding to hunt for the missing Franklin documents at the archives.
Naked Ben Franklin Christens the Campy Return of ‘Sleepy Hollow’ | Amy Zimmerman | September 23, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The whole thing begins to have a jigsaw look, like a child's toy rack with wooden soldiers on it, expanding and contracting.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen LeacockThey were condemned on confessions of Islamism and paganism, extorted by the rack, and afterwards retracted.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellThe equilibrium valve is unchanged, except that the rack is taken out and a link put in.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2) | Francis TrevithickThe exhaust-valve is exactly as when it was put in, worked by a rack-and-tooth segment.
Life of Richard Trevithick, Volume II (of 2) | Francis TrevithickBest of all, there hung upon the wall of this chamber a little book-rack filled with well-selected literature.
Dorothy at Skyrie | Evelyn Raymond
British Dictionary definitions for rack (1 of 6)
/ (ræk) /
a framework for holding, carrying, or displaying a specific load or object: a plate rack; a hat rack; a hay rack; a luggage rack
a toothed bar designed to engage a pinion to form a mechanism that will interconvert rotary and rectilinear motions
a framework fixed to an aircraft for carrying bombs, rockets, etc
the rack an instrument of torture that stretched the body of the victim
a cause or state of mental or bodily stress, suffering, etc; anguish; torment (esp in the phrase on the rack)
slang, mainly US a woman's breasts
US and Canadian (in pool, snooker, etc)
the triangular frame used to arrange the balls for the opening shot
the balls so grouped: Brit equivalent: frame
to torture on the rack
Also: wrack to cause great stress or suffering to: guilt racked his conscience
Also: wrack to strain or shake (something) violently, as by great physical force: the storm racked the town
to place or arrange in or on a rack: to rack bottles of wine
to move (parts of machinery or a mechanism) using a toothed rack
to raise (rents) exorbitantly; rack-rent
rack one's brains to strain in mental effort, esp to remember something or to find the solution to a problem
Origin of rack
1rack
- See also rack up
Derived forms of rack
- racker, noun
British Dictionary definitions for rack (2 of 6)
/ (ræk) /
destruction; wreck (obsolete except in the phrase go to rack and ruin)
Origin of rack
2British Dictionary definitions for rack (3 of 6)
/ (ræk) /
another word for single-foot, a gait of the horse
Origin of rack
3British Dictionary definitions for rack (4 of 6)
/ (ræk) /
a group of broken clouds moving in the wind
(intr) (of clouds) to be blown along by the wind
Origin of rack
4British Dictionary definitions for rack (5 of 6)
/ (ræk) /
to clear (wine, beer, etc) as by siphoning it off from the dregs
to fill a container with (beer, wine, etc)
Origin of rack
5British Dictionary definitions for rack (6 of 6)
/ (ræk) /
the neck or rib section of mutton, pork, or veal
Origin of rack
6Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with rack
In addition to the idioms beginning with rack
- rack and ruin, go to
- rack one's brain
- rack out
- rack up
also see:
- on the rack
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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