Racket

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈɹækɪt/
• Rhymes: -ækɪt

Alternative forms

• (sporting implement) racquet

From Middle English raket

Full definition of racket

Noun

1. (countable) A racquet: an implement with a handle connected to a round frame strung with wire, sinew, or plastic cords, and used to hit a ball, such as in tennis or a birdie in badminton.
• 1922, Michael Arlen, “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days Chapter 3/19/2, Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.
2. (Canada) A snowshoe formed of cords stretched across a long and narrow frame of light wood.
3. A broad wooden shoe or patten for a man or horse, to allow walking on marshy or soft ground.

Synonyms

• (implement) bat, paddle, racquet

Verb

1. To strike with, or as if with, a racket.
• HewytPoor man is racketed from one temptation to another.

Derived from the Scottish Gaelic "bataireachd" which is defined alternatively as "1.Cudgelling. 2 Idleness. 3 Lounging. 4 Making a rattling noise." according to Dwelly, 1910. Dwelly uses this phrase in defining "bataireachd" - "Is ann ort a tha a' bhataireachd! what a noise you are making!" The word "bhataireachd" sounds anglophonically like "vat a racket."

Derived from Irish raic ard, loud disturbance.

Noun

1. A loud noise.Power tools work quickly, but they sure make a racket.With all the racket they're making, I can't hear myself think!What's all this racket?
2. A fraud or swindle; an illegal scheme for profit.They had quite a racket devised to relieve customers of their money.
3. (dated, slang) A carouse; any reckless dissipation.

Synonyms

• (loud noise) din, noise, ruckus
• (fraud) con, fraud, scam, swindle

Derived terms

• racketeer, racketeering

Anagrams

• tacker