rack1

[rak] /ræk/
noun
1.
a framework of bars, wires, or pegs on which articles are arranged or deposited:
a clothes rack; a luggage rack.
2.
a fixture containing several tiered shelves, often affixed to a wall:
a book rack; a spice rack.
3.
a spreading framework set on a wagon for carrying hay, straw, or the like, in large loads.
4.
Pool.
  1. a wooden frame of triangular shape within which the balls are arranged before play.
  2. the balls so arranged:
    He took aim at the rack.
5.
Machinery.
  1. a bar, with teeth on one of its sides, adapted to engage with the teeth of a pinion (rack and pinion) or the like, as for converting circular into rectilinear motion or vice versa.
  2. a bar having a series of notches engaging with a pawl or the like.
6.
a former instrument of torture consisting of a framework on which a victim was tied, often spread-eagled, by the wrists and ankles, to be slowly stretched by spreading the parts of the framework.
7.
a cause or state of intense suffering of body or mind.
8.
torment; anguish.
9.
violent strain.
10.
a pair of antlers.
11.
Slang. a bed, cot, or bunk:
I spent all afternoon in the rack.
verb (used with object)
12.
to torture; distress acutely; torment:
His body was racked with pain.
13.
to strain in mental effort:
to rack one's brains.
14.
to strain by physical force or violence.
15.
to strain beyond what is normal or usual.
16.
to stretch the body of (a person) in torture by means of a rack.
17.
Nautical. to seize (two ropes) together side by side.
Verb phrases
18.
rack out, Slang. to go to bed; go to sleep:
I racked out all afternoon.
19.
rack up,
  1. Pool. to put (the balls) in a rack.
  2. Informal. to tally, accumulate, or amass as an achievement or score:
    The corporation racked up the greatest profits in its history.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English rakke, rekke (noun) < Middle Dutch rac, rec, recke; compare Middle Low German reck, German Reck
Related forms
rackingly, adverb
Can be confused
racked, wracked, wreaked, wrecked.
Synonyms
7. torture, pain, agony, tribulation, ordeal. 12. See torment.

rack2

[rak] /ræk/
noun
1.
ruin or destruction; wrack.
Verb phrases
2.
rack up, Slang. to wreck, especially a vehicle.
Idioms
3.
go to rack and ruin, to decay, decline, or become destroyed:
His property went to rack and ruin in his absence.
Origin
1590-1600; variant of wrack1
British Dictionary definitions for rack up

rack up

verb (transitive, adverb)
1.
to accumulate (points)
2.
Also rack down. to adjust the vertical alignment of (the picture from a film projector or telecine machine) so that the upper or lower edges of the frame do not show

rack1

/ræk/
noun
1.
a framework for holding, carrying, or displaying a specific load or object: a plate rack, a hat rack, a hay rack, a luggage rack
2.
a toothed bar designed to engage a pinion to form a mechanism that will interconvert rotary and rectilinear motions
3.
a framework fixed to an aircraft for carrying bombs, rockets, etc
4.
the rack, an instrument of torture that stretched the body of the victim
5.
a cause or state of mental or bodily stress, suffering, etc; anguish; torment (esp in the phrase on the rack)
6.
(slang, mainly US) a woman's breasts
7.
(US & Canadian, in pool, snooker, etc)
  1. the triangular frame used to arrange the balls for the opening shot
  2. the balls so grouped Brit equivalent frame
verb (transitive)
8.
to torture on the rack
9.
Also wrack. to cause great stress or suffering to: guilt racked his conscience
10.
Also wrack. to strain or shake (something) violently, as by great physical force: the storm racked the town
11.
to place or arrange in or on a rack: to rack bottles of wine
12.
to move (parts of machinery or a mechanism) using a toothed rack
13.
to raise (rents) exorbitantly; rack-rent
14.
rack one's brains, to strain in mental effort, esp to remember something or to find the solution to a problem
See also rack up
Derived Forms
racker, noun
wrack1
Word Origin
C14 rekke, probably from Middle Dutch rec framework; related to Old High German recchen to stretch, Old Norse rekja to spread out

rack2

/ræk/
noun
1.
destruction; wreck (obsolete except in the phrase go to rack and ruin)
Word Origin
C16: variant of wrack1

rack3

/ræk/
noun
1.
another word for single-foot, a gait of the horse
Word Origin
C16: perhaps based on rock²

rack4

/ræk/
noun
1.
a group of broken clouds moving in the wind
verb
2.
(intransitive) (of clouds) to be blown along by the wind
Word Origin
Old English wrǣc what is driven; related to Gothic wraks persecutor, Swedish vrak wreckage

rack5

/ræk/
verb (transitive)
1.
to clear (wine, beer, etc) as by siphoning it off from the dregs
2.
to fill a container with (beer, wine, etc)
Word Origin
C15: from Old Provençal arraca, from raca dregs of grapes after pressing

rack6

/ræk/
noun
1.
the neck or rib section of mutton, pork, or veal
Word Origin
Old English hrace; related to Old High German rahho, Danish harke, Swedish harkla to clear one's throat
Word Origin and History for rack up

rack

n.

"frame with bars," c.1300, possibly from Middle Dutch rec "framework," literally "something stretched out, related to recken (modern rekken) "stretch out," cognate with Old English reccan "to stretch out," from Proto-Germanic *rak- (cf. Old Saxon rekkian, Old Frisian reza, Old Norse rekja, Old High German recchen, German recken, Gothic uf-rakjan "to stretch out"), from PIE *rog-, from root *reg- "to move in a straight line" (see regal).

Meaning "instrument of torture" first recorded early 15c., perhaps from German rackbank, originally an implement for stretching leather, etc. Mechanical meaning "toothed bar" is from 1797 (see pinion). Meaning "set of antlers" is first attested 1945, American English; hence slang sense of "a woman's breasts" (especially if large), by 1991. Meaning "framework for displaying clothes" is from 1948; hence off the rack (1951) of clothing, as opposed to tailored.

type of gait of a horse, 1580s, from rack (v.) "move with a fast, lively gait" 1520s in this sense (implied in racking), of unknown origin; perhaps from French racquassure "racking of a horse in his pace," itself of unknown origin. Or perhaps a variant of rock (v.1).

"clouds driven before the wind," c.1300, also "rush of wind, collision, crash," originally a northern word, possibly from Old English racu "cloud" (or an unrecorded Scandinavian cognate of it), reinforced by Old Norse rek "wreckage, jetsam," or by influence of Old English wræc "something driven;" from Proto-Germanic *wrakaz, from PIE root *wreg- "to push, shove" (see wreak-). Often confused with wrack (n.), especially in phrase rack and ruin (1590s). The distinction is that rack is "driven clouds;" wrack is "seaweed cast up on shore."

"cut of animal meat and bones," 1560s, of unknown origin; perhaps from some resemblance to rack (n.1). Cf. rack-bone "vertebrae" (1610s).

v.

"to stretch out for drying," also "to torture on the rack," early 15c., from rack (n.1). Of other pains from 1580s. Figurative sense of "to torment" is from c.1600. Meaning "raise above a fair level" (of rent, etc.) is from 1550s. Meaning "fit with racks" is from 1580s. Teenager slang meaning "to sleep" is from 1960s (rack (n.) was Navy slang for "bed" in 1940s). Related: Racked; racking. Rack up "register, accumulate, achieve" is first attested 1943 (in "Billboard"), probably from method of keeping score in pool halls.

Slang definitions & phrases for rack up

rack up 1

verb phrase

To register or post; accumulate; achieve: more representative of actual consumer use than 60,000 miles would have been if racked up in short order

[1960s+; probably fr the racking up of pool balls in a triangular frame before a game]


rack up 2

verb phrase

To wreck; ruin; damage severely; total: He got caught raping a nine-year-old Japanese girl. He got racked up (1970s+)

Related Terms

rack


rack

verb
  1. (also rack out) To sleep; nap; cop zs: I'll rack out for awhile on the grass till I get it together (1960s+ Teenagers)
  2. To denigrate severely; trash: Why rack Clinton? (1990s+)
Related Terms

meat rack, off-the-rack, rim-rock

[probably fr torture on the rack, a stretching machine, the verb found by 1433]


Idioms and Phrases with rack up

rack up

Accumulate or score, as in Last night's episode of that new sitcom racked up at least fifteen points in the ratings. [ ; mid-1900s ]

rack

also see:
on the rack