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WordReference can't find this exact phrase, but click on each word to see its meaning:
We could not find the full phrase you were looking for. The entry for "rack" is displayed below. Also see: CD
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026rack1 /ræk/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
- a framework of bars, pegs, etc., on which things are arranged:a clothes rack; a ski rack.
- a fixture containing shelves, often attached to something:a spice rack.
- a former instrument of torture on which a victim was slowly stretched.
v. [~ + object]
- to torture;
hurt badly;
torment;
cause great pain to:Crippling spasms of pain racked him every few minutes.
- to strain or struggle in mental effort:He racked his brains trying to come up with an answer.
- Games rack up, [~ + up + object] to gain, achieve, or score:The new store is racking up profits.
rack2 /ræk/USA pronunciation
n. [uncountable]
- wreckage or destruction;
wrack:to go to rack and ruin.
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026wrack1 /ræk/USA pronunciation
n. [uncountable]
- damage or destruction:The empire fell to wrack and ruin.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026rack1
(rak),USA pronunciation n.
- a framework of bars, wires, or pegs on which articles are arranged or deposited:a clothes rack; a luggage rack.
- a fixture containing several tiered shelves, often affixed to a wall:a book rack; a spice rack.
- a spreading framework set on a wagon for carrying hay, straw, or the like, in large loads.
- Games[Pool.]
- a wooden frame of triangular shape within which the balls are arranged before play.
- the balls so arranged:He took aim at the rack.
- [Mach.]
- Mechanical Engineeringa 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.
- Mechanical Engineeringa bar having a series of notches engaging with a pawl or the like.
- 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.
- a cause or state of intense suffering of body or mind.
- torment;
anguish.
- violent strain.
- Zoologya pair of antlers.
- [Slang.]a bed, cot, or bunk:I spent all afternoon in the rack.
v.t. - to torture;
distress acutely;
torment:His body was racked with pain.
- to strain in mental effort:to rack one's brains.
- to strain by physical force or violence.
- to strain beyond what is normal or usual.
- to stretch the body of (a person) in torture by means of a rack.
- Nautical, Naval Termsto seize (two ropes) together side by side.
- rack out, [Slang.]to go to bed;
go to sleep:I racked out all afternoon.
- Games rack up:
- [Pool.]to put (the balls) in a rack.
- [Informal.]to tally, accumulate, or amass as an achievement or score:The corporation racked up the greatest profits in its history.
- Middle Dutch rac, rec, recke; compare Middle Low German reck, German Reck
- Middle English rakke, rekke (noun, nominal) 1250–1300
7. torture, pain, agony, tribulation, ordeal. 12. See torment.
rack2
(rak),USA pronunciation n.
- ruin or destruction;
wrack.
- go to rack and ruin, to decay, decline, or become destroyed:His property went to rack and ruin in his absence.
v. - rack up, [Slang.]to wreck, esp. a vehicle.
- variant of wrack1 1590–1600
- the fast pace of a horse in which the legs move in lateral pairs but not simultaneously.
v.i. - (of horses) to move in a rack.
- perh. variant of rock2 1570–80
- MeteorologyAlso called cloud rack. a group of drifting clouds.
v.i. - to drive or move, esp. before the wind.
Also, wrack.
- 1350–1400; Middle English rak, reck(e); origin, originally uncertain
- Wineto draw off (wine, cider, etc.) from the lees.
- Old French; compare obsolete French raqué (of wine) pressed from the dregs of grapes
- late Middle English 1425–75
- Foodthe neck portion of mutton, pork, or veal.
- Foodthe rib section of a foresaddle of lamb, mutton, or sometimes veal.
- origin, originally uncertain 1560–70
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026wrack1
(rak),USA pronunciation n.
- wreck or wreckage.
- damage or destruction:wrack and ruin.
- a trace of something destroyed:leaving not a wrack behind.
- seaweed or other vegetation cast on the shore.
v.t. - to wreck:He wracked his car up on the river road.
- Middle English wrak (noun, nominal), Old English wræc vengeance, misery, akin to wracu vengeance, misery, wrecan to wreak bef. 900
- rack4.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
rack /ræk/ n - a framework for holding, carrying, or displaying a specific load or object
- a toothed bar designed to engage a pinion to form a mechanism that will interconvert rotary and rectilinear motions
- the rack ⇒ an instrument of torture that stretched the body of the victim
- a cause or state of mental or bodily stress, suffering, etc; anguish; torment (esp in the phrase on the rack)
- vulgar slang chiefly US a woman's breasts
- US Canadian (in pool, snooker, etc)
- the triangular frame used to arrange the balls for the opening shot
- the balls so groupedBrit equivalent: frame
vb (transitive)- to torture on the rack
- Also: wrack to cause great stress or suffering to: guilt racked his conscience
- Also: wrack to strain or shake (something) violently, as by great physical force: the storm racked the town
- to place or arrange in or on a rack
- to move (parts of machinery or a mechanism) using a toothed rack
- to raise (rents) exorbitantly; rack-rent
- rack one's brains ⇒ to strain in mental effort, esp to remember something or to find the solution to a problem
Etymology: 14th Century rekke, probably from Middle Dutch rec framework; related to Old High German recchen to stretch, Old Norse rekja to spread outˈracker n USAGE: See wrack1 rack /ræk/ n - destruction; wreck (obsolete except in the phrase go to rack and ruin)
Etymology: 16th Century: variant of wrack1 rack /ræk/ n - another word for single-foot, a gait of the horse
Etymology: 16th Century: perhaps based on rock2 rack /ræk/ n - a group of broken clouds moving in the wind
vb - (intransitive) (of clouds) to be blown along by the wind
Etymology: Old English wrǣc what is driven; related to Gothic wraks persecutor, Swedish vrak wreckage rack /ræk/ vb (transitive)- to clear (wine, beer, etc) as by siphoning it off from the dregs
Etymology: 15th Century: from Old Provençal arraca, from raca dregs of grapes after pressing Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
wrack, rack /ræk/ n - collapse or destruction (esp in the phrase wrack and ruin)
- something destroyed or a remnant of such
vb Etymology: Old English wræc persecution, misery; related to Gothic wraka, Old Norse rāk. Compare wreck, wretchUSAGE
wrack /ræk/ n - seaweed or other marine vegetation that is floating in the sea or has been cast ashore
- any of various seaweeds of the genus Fucus, such as F. serratus (serrated wrack)
- literary or dialect
- a wreck or piece of wreckage
- a remnant or fragment of something destroyed
Etymology: 14th Century (in the sense: a wrecked ship, wreckage, hence later applied to marine vegetation washed ashore): perhaps from Middle Dutch wrak wreckage; the term corresponds to Old English wræc wrack1
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