Rack | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Răck, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [See RACK, n., infra.]

Sense 1. To stretch or strain; to extend by violence or force; hence, to submit to violent treatment; to wrest.

Grant that I may never rack a Scripture simile beyond the true intent thereof. Fuller.

Sense 2. Specifically, to stretch on the rack or wheel; to torture by an instrument that strains the limbs and pulls the joints.

Sense 3. To torment; to torture; to affect with extreme pain or anguish. “Vaunting aloud, racked with deep despair.” Milton.

Sense 4. To harass by exaction; to exhaust.

The landlords there shamefully rack their tenants. Spenser.

Sense 5. To cleanse by the use of an instrument called a rack, by means of which impurities are removed; as, to rack ores, &c.; and also to draw off from the lees, as wine or other liquor; to cause to flow off, as pure wine, &c., from its sediment.

Sense 6. (Naut.) To seize together, as two ropes, with cross turns. Dana.

Synonyms— To torture; torment; rend; tear.

Răck, n.

noun

n. [Ger. reck, reckbank; D. rek, rekbank; from Ger. recken, to stretch, D. rekken, Goth. rakyan, Dan. räkke, Sw. räcka, Icel. rekia, rakna, A-S. ræcan, ræccan, to reach, extend.]

Sense 1. An instrument for racking, stretching, or extending any thing; as, (a.) An engine of torture, consisting of a large frame, upon which the body of the person under examination is gradually stretched until sometimes the joints are dislocated; — used for extorting confessions from criminals or suspected persons.

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.

(b.) Any instrument for stretching or extending any thing; as, a rack for bending a bow. Temple. (c.) A grate on which bacon is laid. (d.) A wooden frame of open work in which hay is laid for horses and cattle for feeding. (e.) A frame-work on which articles are arranged and deposited; — used in composition; as, a hat-rack, a clothes-rack, a card-rack, a bottle-rack, and the like. (f.) (Naut.) A strong frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which passes the running rigging. Totten. (g.) (Mining.) A frame on which ores are separated or washed. (h.) A distaff.

Sense 2. A peculiar pace of a horse in which the two legs on each side are moved together; a quick amble.

Sense 3. (Mech.) A straight bar with teeth on its edge to work with those of a wheel or pinion which is to drive or follow it.

Sense 4. That which is extorted; exaction. [Obs.] Sandys.

To put to the rack, to subject to extreme torture; to torment.

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.

Răck, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. RACKED (răkt); p. pr. & vb. n. RACKING.] [Ger. recken, to stretch. See RACK, n., supra.] To move or travel with a quick amble, as a horse.

Răck, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [See RACK, n., infra.] To steam; to rise, as vapor; to reek, to fly as vapor or broken clouds. Shak.

Răck, n.

noun

n. [Cf. A-S. racu, rain, Icel. rak, moisture, raki, dampness. Cf. REEK.] Properly, moisture; dampness; hence, thin, flying, broken clouds, or any portion of floating vapor in the sky.

The winds in the upper region, which move the clouds above, which we call the rack. Bacon.

Leonidas advances, like the sun, When through dividing clouds his presence stays Their sweeping rack, and stills the clamorous wind. Glover.

And the rack it came rolling up ragged and brown. C. Kingsley.

Răck, n.

noun

n. [A-S. hracca, hrecca, the neck, hinder part of the head.] The neck and spine of a fore quarter of veal or mutton.

Răck, n.

noun

n. [For arrack. See ARRACK.] The same as ARRACK, q. v.

Rack-punch, punch made with arrack. Thackeray.

Răck, n.

noun

n. [See WRECK.] A wreck; destruction. [Obs. or colloq.] Rack and ruin, destruction; utter ruin. [Colloq.]—To go to rack, to perish; to be destroyed. [Colloq.] We felt to talk largely of the want of some persons understanding to look after the business, but all goes to rack. Pepys.