Reck

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -É›k

Alternative forms

• reak obsolete

Origin

From Middle English recken, rekken, reken, from Old English rēccan, rēcan (""), from Proto-Germanic *rōkijaną ("to care, take care"), from Proto-Indo-European *rēǵ-, *rēg- ("to care, help"). Cognate with Low German roken, ruken ("to reck, care"), German geruhen ("to deign, condescend"), Icelandic rækja ("to care, regard, discharge"), Danish røgte ("to care, tend").

Full definition of reck

Verb

1. (transitive) To make account of; to care for; to heed; to regard; consider.
• Sir Philip Sidneythis son of mine not recking danger
• BurnsAnd may you better reck the rede
  Than ever did the adviser.
• 1603, William Shakespeare, "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark", Act 1, Scene 3:Ophelia:
  Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
  Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
  Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine,
  Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
  And recks not his own rede.
• 1835, s:Author:William Gilmore Simms, s:The Partisan, She recks not now, as of old, whether her word carries with it the sting or the sweet—it is not now in her thought to ask whether pain or pleasure follows the thoughtless slight or the scornful pleasantry. The victim suffers, but she recks not of his grief.
• 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses (novel) Chapter 13Little recked he perhaps for what she felt, that dull aching void in her heart sometimes, piercing to the core.
2. (intransitive) To care; to matter.
• 1822, John E. Hall (ed.), The Port Folio, vol. XIVLittle thou reck'st² of this sad store!Would thou might never reck¹ them more!
• 1900, Ernest Dowson, Villanelle of Marguerite's, lines 10-11She knows us not, nor recks if she enthrallWith voice and eyes and fashion of her hair ...
3. To concern, to be importantIt recks not!
• MiltonWhat recks it them?
4. (intransitive, obsolete) To think.

Derived terms

• reckful
• reckless