rack 1
(răk)n.1. a. A framework or stand in or on which to hold, hang, or display various articles: a trophy rack; a rack for baseball bats in the dugout; a drying rack for laundry.
b. Games A triangular frame for arranging billiard or pool balls at the start of a game.
c. A receptacle for livestock feed.
d. A frame for holding bombs in an aircraft.
2. Slang a. A bunk or bed.
b. Sleep: tried to get some rack.
3. A toothed bar that meshes with a gearwheel, pinion, or other toothed machine part.
4. a. A state of intense anguish.
b. A cause of intense anguish.
5. An instrument of torture on which the victim's body was stretched.
6. A pair of antlers.
7. Vulgar Slang A woman's breasts.
tr.v. racked,
rack·ing,
racks 1. To place (billiard balls, for example) in a rack.
2. also
wrack To cause great physical or mental suffering to:
Pain racked his entire body. See Synonyms at
afflict.
3. To torture by means of the rack.
Phrasal Verbs: rack out Slang To go to sleep or get some sleep.
rack up Informal To accumulate or score: rack up points.
Idioms: off the rack Ready-made. Used of clothing.
on the rack Under great stress.
rack (one's) brains/brain To try hard to remember or think of something.
rack′er n.
rack 2
(răk)n. A fast, flashy, four-beat gait of a horse in which each foot touches the ground separately and at equal intervals.
intr.v. racked,
rack·ing,
racks To go or move at a rack.
[Origin unknown.]
rack 3
also wrack (răk)n. A thin mass of wind-driven clouds.
[Middle English rak, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Swedish rak, wreckage.]
rack 4
(răk)
rack 5
(răk)
rack 6
(răk)tr.v. racked,
rack·ing,
racks To drain (wine or cider) from the dregs.
[Middle English rakken, from Old Provençal arracar, from raca, stems and husks of grapes.]
rack 7
(răk)n.1. a. A wholesale rib cut of lamb or veal between the shoulder and the loin.
b. A retail rib cut of lamb or veal, prepared for roasting or for rib chops.
2. The neck and upper spine of mutton, pork, or veal.
wrack 1
also rack (răk)n. Destruction or ruin. Used chiefly in the phrase wrack and ruin.
[Middle English, from Old English wræc, punishment (influenced by Middle Dutch wrak, shipwreck).]
wrack 2
also rack (răk)n.1. a. Wreckage, especially of a ship cast ashore.
b. Chiefly British Violent destruction of a building or vehicle.
2. a. Seaweed that has been cast ashore or dried.
b. Any of various brown algae, especially rockweed or kelp.
v. wracked, wrack·ing, wracks also racked or rack·ing or racks
v.tr. To cause the ruin of; wreck.
[Middle English wrak, from Middle Dutch.]
wrack 3
(răk)tr.v. wracked,
wrack·ing,
wracks Idiom: wrack (one's) brains/brain To try hard to remember or think of something.
wrack 4
(răk)American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.