'Rack' definitions:
Definition of 'rack'
From: WordNet
noun
Framework for holding objects
noun
Rib section of a forequarter of veal or pork or especially lamb or mutton
noun
The destruction or collapse of something; "wrack and ruin" [syn: wrack, rack]
noun
An instrument of torture that stretches or disjoints or mutilates victims [syn: rack, wheel]
noun
A support for displaying various articles; "the newspapers were arranged on a rack" [syn: rack, stand]
noun
A form of torture in which pain is inflicted by stretching the body
noun
A rapid gait of a horse in which each foot strikes the ground separately [syn: rack, single-foot]
verb
Go at a rack; "the horses single-footed" [syn: single- foot, rack]
verb
Stretch to the limits; "rack one's brains"
verb
Put on a rack and pinion; "rack a camera"
verb
Obtain by coercion or intimidation; "They extorted money from the executive by threatening to reveal his past to the company boss"; "They squeezed money from the owner of the business by threatening him" [syn: extort, squeeze, rack, gouge, wring]
verb
Run before a gale [syn: scud, rack]
verb
Fly in high wind
verb
Draw off from the lees; "rack wine"
verb
verb
Work on a rack; "rack leather"
verb
Seize together, as of parallel ropes of a tackle in order to prevent running through the block
verb
Torture on the rack
Definition of 'Rack'
From: GCIDE
- Rack \Rack\, n. [AS. hracca neck, hinder part of the head; cf. AS. hraca throat, G. rachen throat, E. retch.] The neck and spine of a fore quarter of veal or mutton. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Rack'
From: GCIDE
- Rack \Rack\, n. [See Wreck.] A wreck; destruction. [Obs., except in a few phrases.] [1913 Webster]
- Rack and ruin, destruction; utter ruin. [Colloq.]
- To go to rack, to perish; to be destroyed. [Colloq.] "All goes to rack." --Pepys. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Rack'
From: GCIDE
- Rack \Rack\, n. [Prob. fr. Icel. rek drift, motion, and akin to reka to drive, and E. wrack, wreck. [root]282.] Thin, flying, broken clouds, or any portion of floating vapor in the sky. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- The winds in the upper region, which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, . . . pass without noise. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
- And the night rack came rolling up. --C. Kingsley. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Rack'
From: GCIDE
- Rack \Rack\, v. i. To fly, as vapor or broken clouds. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Rack'
From: GCIDE
Definition of 'Rack'
From: GCIDE
- Rack \Rack\, n. A fast amble. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Rack'
From: GCIDE
- Rack \Rack\, v. t. [Cf. OF. vin raqu['e] wine squeezed from the dregs of the grapes.] To draw off from the lees or sediment, as wine. [1913 Webster]
- It is in common practice to draw wine or beer from the lees (which we call racking), whereby it will clarify much the sooner. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
- Rack vintage, wine cleansed and drawn from the lees. --Cowell. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Rack'
From: GCIDE
- Rack \Rack\, n. [Probably fr. D. rek, rekbank, a rack, rekken to stretch; akin to G. reck, reckbank, a rack, recken to stretch, Dan. r[ae]kke, Sw. r[aum]cka, Icel. rekja to spread out, Goth. refrakjan to stretch out; cf. L. porrigere, Gr. 'ore`gein. [root]115. Cf. Right, a., Ratch.]
- 1. An instrument or frame used for stretching, extending, retaining, or displaying, something. Specifically: (a) An engine of torture, consisting of a large frame, upon which the body was gradually stretched until, sometimes, the joints were dislocated; -- formerly used judicially for extorting confessions from criminals or suspected persons. [1913 Webster]
- During the troubles of the fifteenth century, a rack was introduced into the Tower, and was occasionally used under the plea of political necessity. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster] (b) An instrument for bending a bow. (c) A grate on which bacon is laid. (d) A frame or device of various construction for holding, and preventing the waste of, hay, grain, etc., supplied to beasts. (e) A frame on which articles are deposited for keeping or arranged for display; as, a clothes rack; a bottle rack, etc. (f) (Naut.) A piece or frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which the running rigging passes; -- called also rack block. Also, a frame to hold shot. (g) (Mining) A frame or table on which ores are separated or washed. (h) A frame fitted to a wagon for carrying hay, straw, or grain on the stalk, or other bulky loads. (i) A distaff. [1913 Webster]
- 2. (Mech.) A bar with teeth on its face, or edge, to work with those of a wheel, pinion, or worm, which is to drive it or be driven by it. [1913 Webster]
- 3. That which is extorted; exaction. [Obs.] --Sir E. Sandys. [1913 Webster]
- Mangle rack. (Mach.) See under Mangle. n.
- Rack block. (Naut.) See def. 1 (f), above.
- Rack lashing, a lashing or binding where the rope is tightened, and held tight by the use of a small stick of wood twisted around.
- Rack rail (Railroads), a toothed rack, laid as a rail, to afford a hold for teeth on the driving wheel of a locomotive for climbing steep gradients, as in ascending a mountain.
- Rack saw, a saw having wide teeth.
- Rack stick, the stick used in a rack lashing.
- To be on the rack, to suffer torture, physical or mental.
- To live at rack and manger, to live on the best at another's expense. [Colloq.]
- To put to the rack, to subject to torture; to torment. [1913 Webster]
- A fit of the stone puts a king to the rack, and makes him as miserable as it does the meanest subject. --Sir W. Temple. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Rack'
From: GCIDE
- Rack \Rack\ (r[a^]k), v. t.
- 1. To extend by the application of force; to stretch or strain; specifically, to stretch on the rack or wheel; to torture by an engine which strains the limbs and pulls the joints. [1913 Webster]
- He was racked and miserably tormented. --Foxe. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To torment; to torture; to affect with extreme pain or anguish. [1913 Webster]
- Vaunting aloud but racked with deep despair. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 3. To stretch or strain, in a figurative sense; hence, to harass, or oppress by extortion. [1913 Webster]
- The landlords there shamefully rack their tenants. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
- They [landlords] rack their rents an ace too high. --Gascoigne. [1913 Webster]
- Grant that I may never rack a Scripture simile beyond the true intent thereof. --Fuller. [1913 Webster]
- Try what my credit can in Venice do; That shall be racked even to the uttermost. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- 4. (Mining) To wash on a rack, as metals or ore. [1913 Webster]
- 5. (Naut.) To bind together, as two ropes, with cross turns of yarn, marline, etc. [1913 Webster]
- To rack one's brains or To rack one's brains out or {To rack one's wits}, to exert one's thinking processes to the utmost for the purpose of accomplishing something; as, I racked my brains out trying to find a way to solve the problem. [1913 Webster +PJC]
- Syn: To torture; torment; rend; tear. [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'rack'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- adversity,
- afflict,
- affliction,
- agonize,
- agony,
- ail,
- amble,
- andante,
- anguish,
- archives,
- armory,
- arsenal,
- atrocious pain,
- attic,
- automatic transmission,
- bank,
- barge,
- basement,
- batter,
- bay,
- beat,
- bed of Procrustes,
- beleaguer,
- bin,
- bite,
- blade roast,
- bloody,
- bonded warehouse,
- bookcase,
- boot,
- bowl along,
- box,
- breast,
- brisket,
- bundle,
- bunker,
- burn,
- buttery,
- cargo dock,
- cellar,
- chafe,
- Chateaubriand,
- chest,
- chuck,
- chuck roast,
- claudication,
- claw,
- clawing,
- clod,
- closet,
- clump,
- cogwheel,
- cold cuts,
- confinement,
- conservatory,
- convulse,
- crate,
- crawl,
- creep,
- crib,
- cruciation,
- crucifixion,
- crucify,
- cupboard,
- cut,
- damage,
- dead march,
- depository,
- depot,
- differential,
- differential gear,
- dismember,
- dismemberment,
- distress,
- dock,
- dogtrot,
- drag,
- draw and quarter,
- drawer,
- droop,
- dump,
- estrapade,
- exchequer,
- excruciate,
- excruciation,
- fester,
- filet mignon,
- flank,
- flounce,
- foot,
- footpace,
- footslog,
- frame,
- framework,
- freewheel,
- fret,
- funeral march,
- gait,
- gall,
- galleys,
- gallop,
- gear,
- gear train,
- gearbox,
- gearing,
- gearshift,
- gearwheel,
- give pain,
- glory hole,
- gnaw,
- godown,
- grate,
- grill,
- grind,
- gripe,
- halt,
- harass,
- hard labor,
- harrow,
- haul,
- heave,
- hell,
- hell upon earth,
- high,
- hippety-hop,
- hitch,
- hobble,
- hold,
- holder,
- holocaust,
- hop,
- horror,
- hurt,
- hutch,
- Hydromatic,
- impale,
- impalement,
- imprisonment,
- incarceration,
- inflame,
- inflict pain,
- intermediate,
- iron heel,
- irritate,
- jailing,
- jog,
- jog trot,
- jolt,
- jump,
- keelhaul,
- keelhauling,
- kill by inches,
- knuckle,
- lacerate,
- laceration,
- lancinate,
- lancination,
- leisurely gait,
- library,
- limp,
- lock step,
- locker,
- loin,
- low,
- lumber,
- lumber room,
- lumbering pace,
- lumberyard,
- lunge,
- lurch,
- macerate,
- magasin,
- magazine,
- martyr,
- martyrdom,
- martyrization,
- martyrize,
- mince,
- mincing steps,
- misery,
- neutral,
- nightmare,
- nip,
- oppress,
- overdrive,
- overexert,
- overexertion,
- overextend,
- overextension,
- overstrain,
- overstress,
- overtax,
- overtaxing,
- pace,
- paddle,
- pain,
- passion,
- peg,
- penal servitude,
- persecute,
- persecution,
- piaffe,
- piaffer,
- picket,
- picketing,
- pierce,
- pinch,
- plague,
- plate,
- plate piece,
- plod,
- pot roast,
- prance,
- press,
- prick,
- Procrustean bed,
- prolong the agony,
- pull,
- punish,
- purgatory,
- put to torture,
- railriding,
- rankle,
- rasp,
- repertory,
- repository,
- reservoir,
- reverse,
- rib roast,
- ribs,
- rick,
- rip,
- roast,
- rock pile,
- roll,
- rolled roast,
- round,
- rub,
- rump,
- rump roast,
- saddle,
- sashay,
- saunter,
- savage,
- scaffold,
- scaffolding,
- scarify,
- scarpines,
- scourge,
- screw,
- scuff,
- scuffle,
- scuttle,
- shake,
- shamble,
- shank,
- shelf,
- short ribs,
- shoulder,
- shoulder clod,
- shuffle,
- sidle,
- single-foot,
- sirloin,
- skip,
- slink,
- slither,
- slog,
- slouch,
- slow march,
- slow motion,
- slowness,
- stab,
- stack,
- stack room,
- stagger,
- stalk,
- stamp,
- stand,
- standard transmission,
- step,
- stick shift,
- sting,
- stock room,
- stomp,
- storage,
- store,
- storehouse,
- storeroom,
- straddle,
- straggle,
- strain,
- strain every nerve,
- straining,
- strappado,
- stress,
- stress and strain,
- stressfulness,
- stretch,
- stretcher,
- stride,
- stroll,
- strolling gait,
- structure,
- strut,
- stump,
- suffering,
- supply base,
- supply depot,
- support,
- swagger,
- sweat blood,
- swing,
- synchromesh,
- tank,
- tar and feather,
- tar-and-feathering,
- tax,
- taxing,
- tenderloin,
- tense,
- tension,
- the gantlet,
- thumbscrew,
- tittup,
- toddle,
- torment,
- torture,
- totter,
- traipse,
- transmission,
- tread,
- treasure house,
- treasure room,
- treasury,
- trestle,
- trip,
- trot,
- trudge,
- try,
- tug,
- tweak,
- twist,
- vat,
- vault,
- velocity,
- waddle,
- walk,
- wamble,
- warehouse,
- wheel,
- wiggle,
- wine cellar,
- wobble,
- wound,
- wrench,
- wring
Words containing 'Rack'
- Racked,
- Racking,
- To be on the rack,
- rack up,
- Card rack,
- Magazine rack,
- Mangle rack,
- Rack and ruin,
- Rack block,
- Rack lashing,
- Rack rail,
- Rack saw,
- Rack stick,
- Rack vintage,
- To go to rack,
- To put to the rack,
- Toast rack,
- bicycle rack,
- bomb rack,
- coat rack,
- dish rack,
- dress rack,
- luggage rack,
- music rack,
- off-the-rack,
- pin rack,
- pipe rack,
- plate rack,
- rack and pinion,
- rack of lamb,
- rack railway,
- rack rent,
- roof rack,
- ski rack,
- spice rack,
- tie rack,
- towel rack,
- Rack-rent,
- Rack-renter,
- To live at rack and manger,
- To rack one's brains,
- To rack one's brains out,
- To rack one's wits,
- nerve-racking,
- nerve-racking nerve-wracking stressful trying