Rack
Pronunciation
- IPA: /ɹæk/
- Rhymes: -æk
Origin 1
See Dutch rekken
Full definition of rack
Noun
rack
(plural racks)- A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other
- Any of various kinds of frame for holding clothes, bottles, animal fodder, mined ore, shot on a vessel, etc.
- (nautical) A piece or frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which the running rigging passes; called also rack block.
- A distaff.
- 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.
- 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.
- A pair of antlers (as on deer, moose or elk).
- A cut of meat involving several adjacent ribs.I bought a rack of lamb at the butcher's yesterday.
- (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
- (slang) A woman's breasts.You should see her rack. Her tits are amazing, and so are her mother's!
- (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.
- (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.
- An instrument for bending a bow.
- A grate on which bacon is laid.
- (obsolete) That which is extorted; exaction.
Verb
- To place in or hang on a rack.
- 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.
- To cause (someone) to suffer pain.
- MiltonVaunting aloud but racked with deep despair.
- (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.
- (billiards, snooker, pool) To put the balls into the triangular rack and set them in place on the table.
- (slang) To strike a male in the groin with the knee.
- To (manually) load (a round of ammunition) from the magazine or belt into firing position in an automatic or semiautomatic firearm.
- (mining) To wash (metals, ore, etc.) on a rack.
- (nautical) To bind together, as two ropes, with cross turns of yarn, marline, etc.
Origin 2
Old English reċċan ("to stretch out, extend")
Verb
- stretch joints of a person
Derived terms
Origin 3
Probably from Old Norse reka ("to be drifted, tost")
Webster 1913|rack
Verb
- To fly, as vapour or broken clouds
Noun
rack
(uncountable)- 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
- (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).
Origin 6
See wreck.