• Rack

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /ɹæk/
    • Rhymes: -æk

    Origin 1

    See Dutch rekken

    Full definition of rack

    Noun

    rack

    (plural racks)
    1. A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other
    2. Any of various kinds of frame for holding clothes, bottles, animal fodder, mined ore, shot on a vessel, etc.
    3. (nautical) A piece or frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which the running rigging passes; called also rack block.
    4. A distaff.
    5. A bar with teeth on its face, or edge, to work with those of a wheel, pinion, or worm, which is to drive or be driven by it.
    6. A device used to torture victims by stretching them beyond their natural limits.
      • MacaulayDuring the troubles of the fifteenth century, a rack was introduced into the Tower, and was occasionally used under the plea of political necessity.
    7. A pair of antlers (as on deer, moose or elk).
    8. A cut of meat involving several adjacent ribs.I bought a rack of lamb at the butcher's yesterday.
    9. (billiards, snooker, pool) A hollow triangle used for aligning the balls at the start of a game.See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_%28billiards%29
    10. (slang) A woman's breasts.You should see her rack. Her tits are amazing, and so are her mother's!
    11. (climbing, caving) A friction device for abseiling, consisting of a frame with 5 or more metal bars, around which the rope is threaded. Also rappel rack, abseil rack.
    12. (climbing, slang) A climber's set of equipment for setting up protection and belays, consisting of runners, slings, karabiners, nuts, Friends, etc.I used almost a full rack on the second pitch.
    13. An instrument for bending a bow.
    14. A grate on which bacon is laid.
    15. (obsolete) That which is extorted; exaction.

    Verb

    1. To place in or hang on a rack.
    2. To torture (someone) on the rack.
      • Alexander PopeHe was racked and miserably tormented.
      • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 228:As the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt later recalled, his father, Henry VII's jewel-house keeper Henry Wyatt, had been racked on the orders of Richard III, who had sat there and watched.
    3. To cause (someone) to suffer pain.
      • MiltonVaunting aloud but racked with deep despair.
    4. (figurative) To stretch or strain; to harass, or oppress by extortion.
      • ShakespeareTry what my credit can in Venice do;
        That shall be racked even to the uttermost.
      • SpenserThe landlords there shamefully rack their tenants.
      • FullerThey rack a Scripture simile beyond the true intent thereof.
    5. (billiards, snooker, pool) To put the balls into the triangular rack and set them in place on the table.
    6. (slang) To strike a male in the groin with the knee.
    7. To (manually) load (a round of ammunition) from the magazine or belt into firing position in an automatic or semiautomatic firearm.
    8. (mining) To wash (metals, ore, etc.) on a rack.
    9. (nautical) To bind together, as two ropes, with cross turns of yarn, marline, etc.

    Origin 2

    Old English reċċan ("to stretch out, extend")

    Verb

    1. stretch joints of a person

    Derived terms

    Origin 3

    Probably from Old Norse reka ("to be drifted, tost")

    Webster 1913|rack

    Verb

    1. To fly, as vapour or broken clouds

    Noun

    rack

    (uncountable)
    1. Thin, flying, broken clouds, or any portion of floating vapour in the sky.
      • Francis BaconThe winds in the upper region, which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, ... pass without noise.
      • Charles KingsleyAnd the night rack came rolling up.

    Origin 4

    Middle English rakken

    Verb

    1. (brewing) To clarify, and thereby deter further fermentation of, beer, wine or cider by draining or siphoning it from the dregs.
      • Francis BaconIt is in common practice to draw wine or beer from the lees (which we call racking), whereby it will clarify much the sooner.

    Origin 5

    See rack ("that which stretches"), or rock (verb).

    Verb

    1. (of a horse) To amble fast, causing a rocking or swaying motion of the body; to pace.

    Noun

    rack

    (plural racks)
    1. A fast amble.

    Origin 6

    See wreck.

    Noun

    rack

    (plural racks)
    1. (obsolete) A wreck; destruction.
      • Samuel PepysAll goes to rack.

    Derived terms

    Anagrams

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