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单词 rack
释义

† rackn.1

Forms: Old English racca, early Middle English racke, early Middle English rackke, Middle English rack, Middle English rak, Middle English rakke, late Middle English rakk; Scottish pre-1700 rak.
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Cognate with Old Icelandic rakki , Norwegian rakke , Old Swedish rakke (Swedish rack ), Danish rakke , probably < the same Indo-European base as Sanskrit raśanā belt, girth, girdle. Compare post-classical Latin racka (from 1295 in British sources), Middle French, French raque (1359; < early Scandinavian). Compare reckon n.1Scots regional (Morayshire) rack, in the same sense, is apparently shortened < rackie n. (see further Sc. National Dict. at rakki n.1, v.).
Nautical. Obsolete.
A parrel or parrel-rope; cf. parrel n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > masts, rigging, or sails > rigging > [noun] > running rigging > rope or chain securing yard
rackOE
parrel1295
parrel rope1417
breast rope1495
main-yard-rope1497
rackiea1838
OE Brussels Gloss. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 288 Anguina, racca.
1295 Accts. Exchequer King's Remembrancer 5/8 m.13 Et iiij s. in xij duo-denis de Wyninges emptis..ad velum, Et vij s. vj d. in xij pottringes, iiijor polayns, et j Rackke ad Mast.
1358–9 Naval Acct. in B. Sandahl Middle Eng. Sea Terms (1982) III. 98 (MED) j couple baksteyes, j stertrop, j rack.
1409–11 Naval Acct. in B. Sandahl Middle Eng. Sea Terms (1958) II. 88 (MED) A ij girdynges, a ij Rakkes, a iij bowelynes.
1561 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1916) XI. 116 For expensis maid be him in putting of the said bote to the see, hir ballest, lyme, pakthreid, rak.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2020).

rackn.2

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Forms:

α. Middle English rac, Middle English rak, Middle English rake, Middle English rakke, Middle English–1600s racke, Middle English– rack; Scottish pre-1700 rak, pre-1700 ruck (perhaps transmission error), pre-1700 1700s– rack.

β. 1600s– wrack, 1700s–1800s wreck, 1800s vrack (Scottish).

Origin: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps a borrowing from early Scandinavian. Perhaps a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: English racu.
Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps < early Scandinavian (compare Norwegian rak , Swedish regional rak (Swedish vrak ) wreckage, refuse, jetsam, rubbish, etc.: see wrack n.2); or perhaps the reflex of Old English racu (see below), with failure of lengthening in open syllables (perhaps influenced by the Scandinavian forms cited above); for the frequency of this failure especially in Older Scots: see A. J. Aitken & C. Macafee Older Scots Vowels (2002) §4.1 and compare rack n.5Old English racu storm, cloud (of uncertain origin; perhaps related to rake n.1 (with the underlying idea of a heaping up or gathering together of clouds), or perhaps cognate with Old Icelandic raki , Norwegian regional rake moisture, dampness, ultimately < the same base as rain n.1) is attested only once:OE Genesis A (1931) 1355 Ic wille..mid wægþreate æhta and agend eall acwellan..þonne sweart racu stigan onginneð.
†1. Chiefly Scottish. A rush; a rapid advance, esp. towards or into collision with something; a hard blow or push. Also: a noise as of a collision; a crash. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > [noun] > forcible, heavy, or violent > collision
hurtlinga1250
rackc1300
rasha1450
collision?a1475
fraying1489
running1538
conflict1555
jostling1580
intershock1611
jostle1611
allision1615
complosion1644
intershocking1652
rencounter1662
interfering1677
shocking1702
bump1843
cannoning1864
confliction1868
boink1963
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > sudden or violent sound > [noun] > of impact or concussion > crash, clash, or smash
rackc1300
crushc1330
crashingc1440
rasha1450
reela1450
frush1487
clasha1522
crash1574
clush-clash1582
crush-crash1582
rouncival1582
clashing1619
rack1671
smash1808
the world > movement > impact > striking > striking with specific degree of force > [noun] > hard or vigorous striking > a hard or vigorous blow
rackc1300
pelta1540
sparring-blowa1690
racket1710
whack1737
skite1825
slogger1829
slug1830
swinger1836
slog1846
crump1850
bitch slap1987
c1300 Body & Soul (Laud Misc. 108) (1889) 43 Þouȝ me lete have rap and rac.
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) 3476 (MED) Þe þre come þo gret rac; þe oþer foure, forto wreken Þe þre, gun her launces breken.
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 4232 (MED) Ouer þe table he lep, gode rak—Quyk in his waye he hym diȝth.
c1450 (?a1400) Sege Melayne (1880) 1249 (MED) Thay ruysschede Samen with swilke a rake That many a Sarazene laye on his bake.
1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) I. 191 Thai fyrit gunnis..The rochis all resownyt wyth the rak.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid xi. xii. 41 Thai meyt in melle with a felloun rak.
c1570 J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1830) 103 The Lord Hwme..maid invasiones and rack aganis Scotland, and brint sindre townes and spulyeit the cuntrey.
1880 Jamieson's Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (new ed.) Rack, a blow. Clydes[dale].
†2. A rush of wind; a gale, a storm. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [noun] > strong or violent wind
birra1325
racka1400
galea1547
Euroclydon1561
huff-gale1582
whiskera1598
gale-wind1628
sniffler1768
snifter1768
storm wind1839
buster1848
snorter1855
snorer1871
blusterer1877
ripsnorter1889
smeller1898
hurricane wind1921
a1400 Siege Jerusalem (Laud) (1932) 55 (MED) Cloudes clateren gon, as þey cleue wolde; Þe racke myd a rede wynde roos on þe myddel, & sone sette on þe se out of þe souþ syde, Blewe on þe brode se, bolned vp harde.
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid x. v. 127 Thai fle the weddris blast and rak of wynd.
c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy 1984 There a tempest hom toke..A rak and a royde wynde rose in hor saile.
1650 in J. Davidson Inverurie & Earldom of Garioch (1878) 308 He had told them often that the Covenant and work of reformation was a cloud, and now it was dispelled in a ruck of stinking wind.
3.
a. A mass of cloud moving quickly, esp. above lower clouds; a mass of such cloud. Also occasionally figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > [noun] > a cloud > (mass of) clouds
rackc1400
cloud-field1841
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > track, trail, or path > [noun] > uphill
rackc1400
rakec1400
borstall1674
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > [noun] > a cloud > (mass of) clouds > driven by wind
rackc1400
ratch1558
scud1670
cloud-rack1847
c1400 (?c1380) Patience l. 176 (MED) He þat rules þe rak may rwe on þose oþer.
a1450 (c1410) H. Lovelich Hist. Holy Grail xxxv. 386 The Schipe wente..Swiftere than þe Rakke In þe Eyr.
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. T.iiii When cloudes ben driuen then rides the racke Phebus the fresh ne shoteth still.
1590 R. Greene Neuer too Late i. 40 The Welkin had no racke that seemd to glide.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §115 The Windes in the Vpper Region (which moue the Clouds aboue which we call the Racke).
1641 Curates' Confer. in Harl. Misc. I. 499 I am almost at the same ebb: but let us hope better: things will not always ride in this rack.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics i, in tr. Virgil Wks. 62 With such a force the flying rack is driv'n. View more context for this quotation
1707 E. Smith Phædra & Hippolytus iii. 30 Why did you raise me to the heighth of Joy, Above the wreck of Clouds and Storms below?
1789 E. Darwin Bot. Garden: Pt. II ii. 53 Now a speck is seen! And now the fleeting rack obtrudes between!
1808 W. Scott Marmion iv. Introd. 173 Along the sky, Mixed with the rack, the snow-mists fly.
1848 E. Bulwer-Lytton Harold II. v. i. 15 The smoke rises..to join the wrack of the clouds.
1886 H. Caine Son of Hagar i. viii. 150 The stars struggled one by one through a rack of flying cloud.
1924 R. Campbell Flaming Terrapin i. 17 Thunder clanging from the cloudy rack With elemental hammers fierce and red.
1984 A. Lee Sarah Phillips (1985) 10 The rack of storm clouds had thinned into streaks of blue.
b. A bank of cloud, fog, or mist; a wisp of cloud or vapour. Also as a mass noun: mist, fog; sea spray. Also figurative in quot. a16162 and later allusions to this. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > mist > [noun] > driving mist
rackc1400
cloud-bank1830
c1400 (?c1390) Sir Gawain & Green Knight (1940) 1695 (MED) In rede rudede vpon rak rises þe sunne, And ful clere costez þe clowdes of þe welkyn.
?c1450 (c1420) J. Page Siege of Rouen (Harl.) (1829) 373 The clothis..Kepte hem there from rayne & rack.
1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid vii. Prol. 131 The mornyng bla, wan and har, With clowdy gum and rak ourquhelmyt the ayr.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) iv. xv. 10 That which is now a Horse, euen with a thoght the Racke dislimes, and makes it indistinct. View more context for this quotation
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iv. i. 156 The great Globe it selfe..shall dissolue, And..Leaue not a racke behinde. View more context for this quotation
1721 A. Ramsay Poems I. Gloss. 393/2 Rak, or Rook, A Mist or Fog.
1787 A. Yearsley Poems Var. Subj. 73 The lovely Flow'r..Struck on my pensive mind; Whisp'ring, ‘there's nought but blooming Truth, Shall leave a rack behind.’
a1831 Sir N. Wraxall Posth. Mem. (1836) 359 The system of commercial settlement, reared with so much difficulty, dissolved at once, leaving no wreck behind.
1849 H. Melville Mardi I. lxiii. 227 High toward heaven, flew the white reef's rack and foam.
1874 E. B. Pusey Lenten Serm. 100 The most plausible will not leave a rack behind.
1878 H. S. Wilson Alpine Ascents ii. 57 A filmy wrack wreathes round and upward.
1926 Chambers's Jrnl. 12 June 448/2 I feel upon my lips the salt sea rack, Hear the wild beating of an unknown tide.
1953 M. Traynor Eng. Dial. Donegal 224/2 Rack,..the foam of the sea.
1967 W. Styron Confessions Nat Turner i. 32 Above the river and the swamp beyond, a white rack of cloud hovered.

Compounds

† rack-wind n. Obsolete the wind at higher altitudes, viewed as driving the clouds, as contrasted with the wind blowing at ground level; cf. sense 3a.
ΚΠ
1618 S. Ward Iethro's Iustice of Peace 56 It is the ground wind, not the rack-winde, that driues mils and ships.
1620 T. Scott High-waies of God (1633) 16 It is for me to observe the ground-winde, not the rack-winde.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

rackn.3

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Forms:

α. Middle English reck, late Middle English reccys (plural), late Middle English rek, late Middle English rekk, late Middle English–1500s rakke, late Middle English–1600s racke, 1500s ract (Scottish), 1500s rak (Scottish), 1500s–1600s rake, 1500s– rack; N.E.D. (1902) also records a form late Middle English rake.

β. 1600s– wrack (now English regional and nonstandard).

Origin: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: rack n.4
Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps a specific use of rack n.4 Compare German Recke instrument for stretching (used in leather work) (18th cent.) and Reckbank , Reckebank (also Rackbank ) rack for drawing wire, stretching leather, inflicting torture, etc. (16th cent.). Compare slightly later rack v.1 and slightly earlier racking n.1Kiliaan (1588) records an early modern Dutch form racke ‘instrument of torture’ (which he labels as ‘old’); however, this is not recorded elsewhere in this sense, and is almost certainly Kiliaan's adaptation of the English word (which he compares); compare discussion at rack v.1 In β. forms apparently showing influence by or confusion with wrack n.1 A slightly earlier borrowing of the Middle English word into Anglo-Norman is perhaps shown by the following:1398 in M. Sellers York Memorandum Bk. (1912) I. 89 Que null..pende overtement en fenestres ou sur lez rakkes aucun chose. Sense 2a apparently implies slightly earlier currency of sense 2b, as also does rack v.1
1. A frame on which cloth, parchment, etc., is stretched, usually before drying. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > [noun] > stretching > framework
tenter13..
rack1328
tenter-frame1835
1328 in P. D. A. Harvey Manorial Rec. Cuxham (1976) 356 In j carpentario conducto per ij dies ad reparandum rotam aquaticum Molendini fullonis et ad emendendum le Reck' dicti Molendini fullonis viij d.
1408 Inquisition Misc. (P.R.O.: C 145/287/15) m. 2 Johannes..decem virgas panni blodei coloris..super Rackes dicti Radulphi..asportauit.
a1425 (a1349) R. Rolle Meditations on Passion (Uppsala) (1917) 50 (MED) Þi bodi is streyned as a perchemyn skynne vpon a racke [v.r. þe harowe].
1461–83 in E. W. W. Veale Great Red Bk. Bristol: Text Pt. II (1938) 66 (MED) Grete complaynts ben made..of the vnrightvousse and extorcionsze takyng..For the Ivenyng of cloth In the Reck.
1519 in Money Hist. Newbury (1887) 458 All the Rakkys and teynters as thei now stonde.
1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII c. 18 §5 Euerie suche clothe [shall]..be meated both length and brede..before they be set vpon the racke and dried.
a1634 W. Austin Devotionis Augustinianæ Flamma (1635) 281 A Web [is]..sometimes upon the Tenters sidewayes, and sometimes on the Racke endwayes.
1678 London Gaz. 1281/4 Lost..off from the Racks, 24 yards of Cloth.
1743 R. Brooks Observ. Milling Broad & Narrow Cloth 22 The Fore-Part of the Cloth is hook'd on the Tenters at the Fore-End of the Rack.
1762 J. Mitchell Female Pilgrim 379 The weaver makes it into cloth; then it is milled, as tho' going to be beat to pieces; then it is put on the rack; from thence carried to the teazle mill, in order to scratch off the long wool.
1843 2nd Rep. Commissioners on Employment of Children. v. 39 The cloth is thrown from the wheel upon a rack, as it is called, i.e. a wooden frame raised 18 inches from the ground, and composed of bars which allow the water to drip from the cloth between them.
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Rack, a long upright frame on which woollen cloths are stretched while drying.
1965 Folklore 76 72 The following place names are connected with the manufacture of cloth: Rack Hill, from the Middle English rakke, a rack, used as a tenter-frame for the drying and stretching of cloth, [etc.]
2002 T. J. Elpel Participating in Nature (ed. 5) 159 In the dry-scrape method the fresh hide is stretched and tied in a rack and allowed to dry.
2.
a. Something which causes acute physical or mental suffering. Also: the result of this; intense pain or anguish.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > [noun]
tintreghc893
threat971
piningOE
murderOE
anguish?c1225
woea1250
pinec1275
tormentc1290
languorc1300
heartbreakc1330
surcarkingc1330
martyrement1340
threst1340
agonyc1384
martyrdomc1384
tormentryc1386
martyre?a1400
tormentisec1405
rack?a1425
anguishing1433
angorc1450
anguishnessa1475
torture?c1550
heartsickness1556
butchery1582
heartache1587
anguishment1592
living hell1596
discruciation1597
heart-aching1607
throeing1615
rigour1632
crucifixion1648
lancination1649
bosom-hell1674
heart-rending1707
brain-racking1708
tormentation1789
bosom-throe1827
angoisse1910
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > cause of mental anguish or torment > [noun]
roodOE
thornc1230
prickc1384
rack?a1425
travailerc1450
goading1548
twinge1548
goad1553
tormentor1553
cut1568
stingera1577
butcher1579
torture1612
bosom-devil1651
wound1844
knife-edge1876
nemesis1933
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > [noun] > anguish or torment
piningOE
anguishc1225
pinsing?c1225
tormentc1290
afflictiona1382
martyrdomc1384
tormentryc1386
labourc1390
martyryc1390
throea1393
martyre?a1400
cruelty14..
rack?a1425
hacheec1430
prong1440
agonya1450
ragea1450
pang1482
sowing1487
cruciation1496
afflict?1529
torture?c1550
pincha1566
anguishment1592
discruciament1593
excruciation1618
fellness1642
afflictedness1646
pungency1649
perialgia1848
perialgy1857
racking1896
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > [noun] > that which causes
rack1607
sting1900
?a1425 (?1373) Lelamour Herbal (1938) f. 13 (MED) Þe decoccioun..helpiþ for þe jandis and þe reccys in mannys sids, þat is callid ypocandria.
1565 J. Jewel Replie Hardinges Answeare i. 16 I thinke M. Hardinge here..meaneth Priuie Confession, whiche many haue vsed as a racke of mens consciences to the maintenance of their tyrannie.
1591 R. Greene Maidens Dreame xxxvi Her outward woes betrayed her inward rack.
1607 T. Dekker Knights Conjuring To Rdr. sig. A4 They that haue once or twice lyen vpon the rack of publicke censure.
a1642 J. Suckling Goblins v. 55 in Fragmenta Aurea (1646) What a racke have I within me to see you suffer.
1718 M. Prior Power 142 The gout's fierce rack, the burning fever's rage.
1792 S. Rogers Pleasures Mem. ii. 49 The racks of thought, and freezings of despair.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) vi. 51 What is the rack in the punch, at night, to the rack in the head of a morning?
1866 A. C. Swinburne Poems & Ballads 306 For the pure sharpness of her miseries She had no heart's pain, but mere body's wrack.
a1918 W. Owen Coll. Poems (1963) 122 So I'll evade the vice and rack of age And miss the march of lifetime.
1986 S. Middleton After Dinner's Sleep xiv. 151 She described their choking distress, the rack of coughing.
b. An instrument of torture, usually consisting of a frame on which the victim was stretched by turning two rollers fastened at each end to the wrists and ankles. Often used with the. Occasionally in come rack, come rope. Also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > torture > instrument or place of torture > [noun] > rack
ginc1225
enginea1450
framec1480
rack1481
brake1530
pine banka1535
pine bauk1542
Duke of Exeter's daughter1618
1481 W. Caxton tr. Hist. Reynard Fox (1970) 24 Your hows shal be byseged al aboute, and ther shal be made to fore it galowes and racke.
a1500 (?c1425) Speculum Sacerdotale (1936) 129 (MED) He commaundid that he schuld be put on a rakke and there to be extended and drawen out þe body.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. cccxij Streight waies was he put vpon the Racke, and examined by torture.
1582 G. Whetstone Heptameron Ciuill Disc. sig. L.ivv You haue streatched their debates, vpon the rack of vengeaunce.
1583 A. Nowell et al. True Rep. Disput. E. Campion sig. C1v He..had bene twise on the Racke, and..racking was more grieuous then hanging.
1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1326/2 The chiefe matter..is as yet vnreuealed, and come racke come rope, neuer shall that be discouered.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) ii. v. 3 Euen like a man new haled from the Wrack, So fare my Limbes with long Imprisonment.
1622 J. Webbe Appeale to Truth 9 Setting their tender witts vpon the rack they pull and teare them with Tautologies.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. x. 463 A Pottaro or Racke is..made of three plankes of Timber, the vpmost end whereof is larger then a ful stride; the lower end being narrow.
1690 J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding ii. xxi. 119 A Man on the Rack, is not at liberty to lay by the Idea of pain, and entertain other Contemplations.
a1711 T. Ken Wks. (1721) IV. 520 Then on the Rack the Saint they stretch, Her Limbs with Screws and Pulleys retch.
1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 195 Louisa lay,..pleas'd to her utmost capacity of being so, with every fibre in those parts, stretch'd almost to breaking, on a rack of joy.
1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. vi. 46 Having been determined..not to disclose a fact, although he should be put to the rack, he perseveres in such resolution.
1827 H. Hallam Constit. Hist. Eng. I. iii. 159 The rack seldom stood idle in the Tower for all the latter part of Elizabeth's reign.
1875 W. Stubbs Constit. Hist. III. xviii. 281 The rack which bore the name of the duke of Exeter's daughter.
1912 R. H. Benson (title) Come rack, come rope.
a1963 S. Plath Coll. Poems (1981) 170 A man in black with a Meinkampf look And a love of the rack and the screw.
1992 Fast Forward 20 June 27/2 If anyone dares to stop me, I shall stretch them on the rack, mutilate their hands with the thumb-screws, [etc.].
2006 Associated Press Worldstream (Nexis) 17 Nov. Illegal detainees..awaited torture sessions with racks, electrical prods and other devices.
c. to put, set, place, etc. on the rack: to stretch (faculties, words, etc.) to the limit; to put (a person) in an extremely difficult or awkward position. to be on the rack: to be stretched to the limit.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > effort or exertion > [verb (transitive)] > put the limbs or faculties to abnormal exertion
swinkc1300
strain1446
stress1540
to put, set, place, etc. on the rack1599
taska1616
tax1672
force1825
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > misinterpretation > distortion or perversion of meaning > pervert or distort [verb (transitive)]
crooka1340
deprave1382
pervertc1390
strainc1449
drawc1450
miswrest?a1475
bewrya1522
wry?1521
to make a Welshman's hose ofa1529
writhea1533
wrest1533
invert1534
wring?1541
depravate1548
rack1548
violent1549
wrench1549
train1551
wreathe1556
throw1558
detorta1575
shuffle1589
wriggle1593
distortc1595
to put, set, place, etc. on the rack1599
twine1600
wire-draw1610
monstrify1617
screw1628
corrupt1630
gloss1638
torture1648
force1662
vex1678
refract1700
warp1717
to put a force upon1729
twist1821
ply1988
the world > action or operation > manner of action > effort or exertion > exert oneself or make an effort [verb (intransitive)] > make physical effort > be at full stretch
to be on the rack1599
extend1886
1599 J. Rainolds Overthrow Stage-playes 35 This I say not onelie of my generall speeches sett vpon the racke to make me odious to your Studentes.
1606 S. Hieron Truths Purchase in Wks. (1620) I. 65 My text very naturally, without setting it vpon the racke, occasioneth the vrging of that duty.
1666 R. Boyle Origine Formes & Qualities sig. a 2 Mystical Notions, which put the Understanding upon the Wrack.
a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) I. 86 Sometimes I set my Wits upon the Rack.
1693 R. Fleming Disc. Earthquakes 23 Men are so much on the Rack how to solve all by natural Demonstration.
1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub iv. 103 He had kept his Brain so long, and so violently upon the Rack, that at last it shook it self.
1778 F. Burney Jrnl. Aug. in Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1994) III. 75 They have both worn themselves out by being eternally on the rack to give entertainment to others.
1814 W. Scott Waverley III. xix. 284 So much had her nerves been on the rack for her patron's safety. View more context for this quotation
1857 T. Hughes Tom Brown's School Days ii. iii. 279 Martin's ingenuity was therefore for ever on the rack to supply himself with a light.
1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad liii. 572 The gaudy trappings of the Greek Church offend the eye and keep the mind on the rack to remember that this is the Place of the Crucifixion.
1907 H. James Introd. Tempest in S. Lee Compl. Wks. Shakespeare XVI. Introd. p. ix To mock our..ignorance..and thereby to place on the rack again our strained and aching wonder.
1926 J. M. March Wild Party (1928) II. ii. 39 Now she'd make him suffer! She had planned this party to put him on the rack.
1974 Sunday Tel. 9 June 34/4 A spineless exhibition by the early Yorkshire batting..put them on the rack yet again.
1992 Glasgow Herald 16 Nov. (Sport Suppl.) 3/4 Boroughmuir, playing some vintage rugby, had 'Sonians on the rack and Robertson scored the simplest of tries.
d. on the rack: in a state of acute physical or mental suffering; in a state of keen anxiety or suspense (now rare).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > in a state of anguish or torment [phrase]
on the gridiron1590
on the rack1600
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > [adjective] > relating to agony or torment > suffering agony or torment
forpainedc1400
agoniousa1513
tormented1552
on the rack1600
racked1900
the mind > emotion > suffering > state of being upset or perturbed > worry > anxiety > [phrase] > acutely anxious
on the gridiron1590
on the rack1600
on pins and needles1710
1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice iii. ii. 25 Let me choose, For as I am, I liue vpon the racke. View more context for this quotation
1668 W. Temple Let. to Marq. de Castel Rodrigo in Lett. in Wks. (1731) II. 116 To see him keep us three or four Days on the Rack till the Affair was just breaking.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 170. ¶5 A cool Behaviour sets him on the Rack.
1737 Common Sense I. 178 He was upon the Rack to be satisfied.
1863 A. W. Kinglake Invasion of Crimea I. vii. 98 When for some time men's minds had been kept on the rack, it became known [etc.].
1892 R. L. Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker vii. 105 If there were one thing Pinkerton valued..it was his honesty; if there were one thing he clung to, it was my good opinion; and when both were involved..the man was on the rack.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xiii. [Nausicaa] 359 The body feels the atmosphere. Old Betty's joints are on the rack.
†3. = rack rent n. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > hire or rent > rent (land or real property) > [noun] > excessive
rack1524
rack rent1605
1524 in Black Bk. Winchester (1925) 137 Richard Illisley hath taken a racke on the grownd adyoynyng ther un to.
1605 E. Sandys Relation State of Relig. O ij b The parish Priestes in Italie, who have not the Tenthes, which..considering the great rents and rackes would be vnsupportable.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory iii. 70/1 Such as hold Lands and Livings..upon the Rack, or half-Rack, that is upon the Yearly value, or half value..avoiding at the Landlords pleasure.
1720 London Gaz. No. 5895/3 Of the Value of 1500l. per Annum on the Rack.
1817 J. Mill Hist. Brit. India II. v. iii. 387 When the revenues were farmed to the Zemindars, these contractors were induced to turn upon the ryots..the same rack which was applied to themselves.
4. Strain imposed by stressful or difficult circumstances; spec. bad weather or a storm at sea.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > [noun] > oppression, persecution, or affliction > overpowering pressure of an adverse force
stressc1400
distress1485
thrust1513
straint1534
heft1587
pinchc1594
rack1806
pend1823
water stress1991
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [noun] > condition of > stress of weather
anguishc1330
force1614
urgency1660
rack1865
1806 H. Siddons Maid, Wife, & Widow I. 40 These she had preserved amid the frowns of adversity and the rack of wealth.
1865 W. Whitman O Captain! My Captain! in Sequel to Drum-taps 13 O Captain! my Captain!.. The ship has weather'd every rack.
1891 Daily News 17 June 5/1 A strong voice, unworn by age and the rack of various seas.
1915 H. D. Rawnsley European War 134 Blest are the dead, released from rack and strain Of sleepless watch.

Compounds

C1.
† rack-proof adj. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1654 E. Nicholas Papers (1892) II. 125 It was to deepe a policy..unless he had bin rack proofe.
1709 M. Geddes Misc. Tracts (ed. 2) 486 How invulnerable soever this Prisoner might be as to all other wounding Engines and Instruments, I doubt whether he was Rack-proof when the Experiment was try'd upon him in the Inquisition.
C2.
rack-master n. now historical a torturer using the rack.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > torture > [noun] > torturer > one who operates rack
racker1558
rack-master1582
1582 in J. H. Pollen Acts Eng. Mart. (1891) 223 The old rackmaster, Mr. Topcliffe.
1602 T. Fitzherbert Apol. 4 The crvelty of the Rackmaisters in England.
1886 J. Gillow Literary & Biogr. Hist. Eng. Catholics II. 397 The rack-master of the Tower, a most cruel torturer of priests.
1928 PMLA 43 685 He hated Topcliffe, the notorious rack-master and torturer of Catholic priests.
2006 Guardian (Nexis) 6 May (Review section) 8 The rack was the favoured implement, and Walsingham's rack-masters were the stuff of nightmares.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

rackn.4

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Forms:

α. Middle English recke, Middle English rekke, 1600s 1800s wreck, 1600s 1800s– reck; Scottish pre-1700 reck, pre-1700 reik.

β. Middle English rak, Middle English rakk, Middle English–1500s rakke, Middle English–1600s racke, Middle English–1600s rake, Middle English– rack, 1600s ragg (English regional (Yorkshire)), 1600s raike (northern); Scottish pre-1700 racke, pre-1700 rak, pre-1700 1700s– rack, 1700s raik, 1700s rake (Orkney), 1800s raak (Shetland).

γ. Scottish 1800s racks, 1800s rackses (plural).

Origin: Apparently either (i) a borrowing from Dutch. Or (ii) a borrowing from Middle Low German. Etymons: Dutch rec; Middle Low German rek; Dutch rac.
Etymology: Apparently < either Middle Dutch rec, recke, ricke stake, pole, stick, also applied to various wooden objects on which articles may be placed or suspended (late 13th cent.; Dutch rek ) or its equivalent Middle Low German rek, reck, recke, ricke, rik horizontal bar on which articles may be suspended, crossbeam, prop, banister, wooden rack used for storing or displaying objects (German regional (Low German) Reck , Rick ), both of uncertain origin (perhaps related, respectively, to Middle Dutch recken , Middle Low German recken : see rech v.). The β. forms may show a borrowing < Middle Dutch rac (Dutch rak ; variant of rek ; compare German regional (Low German) Rack (variant of Reck )) or may show an independent phonetic development in English. Slightly earlier currency of the English word is perhaps implied by post-classical Latin rekka rack for feeding animals (from 13th cent. in British sources), wooden framework for cloth (from 14th cent. in British sources). Compare also ( < Middle Low German) Swedish räck , räcke , Danish række . Compare rack v.1With the γ. forms compare rax n.1 In rack and manger at sense 1d perhaps associated with rack and ruin (see rack n.9 1). In the following quot. (given as the earliest example of the word in N.E.D. (1903)) the form is probably an error for rokkes:c1300 St. Christopher (Harl.) 192 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 64 Þe king was þo for wraþþe wod, þat o womman he let honge Heuye rekkes [c1300 Laud heuie stones] bynde to hire fet, þat hire deþ þrowes were stronge.
1.
a. A vertically barred frame for holding animal fodder, either fixed to a wall or capable of being moved where required in a field or farmyard. Cf. heck n.1 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [noun] > fodder rack
cribOE
hatchlOE
cratch?c1225
rack1343
mangerc1350
heckc1420
hake1551
stand heck1570
hack1612
meat rack1744
hay-rack1825
1343–4 in W. H. St. J. Hope Windsor Castle (1913) I. 121 (MED) In meremio empto de Waltero de Stoke pro baculis ad Rakkes in magno stabulo Regis, vj d.
a1425 Rev. Methodius in J. Trevisa Dialogus Militem et Clericum (1925) 105 (MED) Her horsis þei schule tyȝe to þe sepulcris of seyntis, as to rackis [ Meth.(2) a mawnger].
c1460 J. Lydgate Praise of Peace 112 in Minor Poems (1934) ii. 789 In a streiht rakke lay ther the Kyng of Pees.
?1521 A. Barclay Bk. Codrus & Mynalcas sig. Aiijv But the stronge caball, standeth at the racke.
1587 L. Mascall Bk. Cattell: Oxen (1596) 72 Some do vse to feede them on the ground without a racke, but that is thought to be..more wastfull of hay.
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice iii. 20 You shall put into his racke a..bottle of hay.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil Wks. 114 Salt Herbage for the fodd'ring Rack provide. View more context for this quotation
1758 W. Lilly Bk. Knowl. iv. xvi. 100 Tie up the Horse's Head to the Rack, so that he may not bite the sore Place the Space of two or three Hours.
1781 W. Cowper Charity 173 He breaks the cord that held him at the rack.
1859 C. Dickens Tale of Two Cities ii. ix. 84 The horses in the stables rattled at their racks.
1886 C. Scott Pract. Sheep-farming 65 A rack nine feet long will accommodate twenty sheep... Whenever the racks are taken out to the fields [etc.].
1930 W. Faulkner As I lay Dying 10 He reaches up and drags down hay in hurried armfuls and crams it into the rack.
1958 Times 1 July (Agric. Suppl.) p. viii/7 For up to 20 cows the trailer can be a home-made self-feed rack standing on an ordinary farm trailer.
1977 ‘J. Herriot’ Vets might Fly 14 He..returned with a forkful of hay which he tossed expertly into the rack.
1997 Farmers Guardian 19 Sept. 21/3 I..bring them in in the evening to a stable with a few wedges of barley straw in the rack.
b. Coupled with manger. See manger n.1 1. Also occasionally figurative.
ΚΠ
1393 in L. T. Smith Exped. Prussia & Holy Land Earl Derby (1894) 205 (MED) Pro diuersis rakks et mangers faciendis in stabulis domini.
?1465 J. Wymondham in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 312 I haue gote yow..and hows to ley jnne hey and straw and cost yow not but making of a rak and a ma[n]geour.
a1500 Partenay (Trin. Cambr.) 913 Both rekke and manger at their ease gan make.
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 14v A rack & a manger, good litter & haye.
1587 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Iland Brit. (new ed.) ii. ii. 141/2 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) I Canturburie was said to be the higher racke, but Winchester..to be the better mangier.
1607 T. Walkington Optick Glasse sig. G5 Chap-fallen hackneies feed at others rack and manger.
1675 Inventories 11 The rack and manger and a ladder.
1707 Ld. Raby in T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. 14 Sept. (O.H.S.) II. 42 His Horses stand..wthout either Racks or Mangers.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver II. iv. ii. 27 In the middle was a large Rack with Angles answering to every Partition of the Manger. So that each Horse and Mare eat their own Hay.
1786 Sportsman's Dict. (new ed.) at Stallion Let there be likewise a rack and manger, to feed him in during his covering-time.
1850 H. Melville White-jacket lxviii. 333 A few choice..stalls are to be found, furnished with well-filled mangers and racks.
1883 Harper's Mag. Oct. 719/2 Little or no fancy iron-work in the way of stable fittings is used, wooden racks and mangers being preferred.
1932 L. van Es Princ. Animal Hygiene (1949) vi. 164 For the feeding of pregnant ewes the placing of racks and mangers in a circle is an excellent arrangement.
2002 Western Daily Press (Nexis) 3 July 13 Modern farmers are not farming correctly... Many years ago, cattle were fed in racks and mangers.
c. at rack and (at) manger: surrounded by abundance or plenty, wanting for nothing. Occasionally without prepositions. Cf. at heck and manger at heck n.1 3. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > wealth > rich or wealthy [phrase] > well off
well at easec1330
of substance?a1439
at rack and (at) mangera1500
in good case1560
well to live1568
well and warmc1571
well to pass in the worlda1609
inlaid1699
in easy circumstancesa1704
well to do in the world1805
stouth and routh1816
quids in1919
a1500 (?c1378) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 435 (MED) It is yuel to kepe a wast hors in stable..but it is worse to have a womman wiþ-ynne or wiþ-oute at racke & at manger.
1541 Schole House of Women sig. A.iii Kepe them bothe at racke, and maunger Array them well, and lay them softe.
1593 Bacchus Bountie in Harl. Misc. (1809) II. 275 Plaine rack and manger, where euery one dranke himself out of danger.
1605 G. Chapman Al Fooles i. ii. 118 Valerio, here's a simple meane for you To lye at racke and manger with your wedlocke.
1679 A. Behn Feign'd Curtizans iii. i. 39 Danger,..once o'recome—I ly at Rack and Manger.
1719 ‘J. Gay’ Ovid in Masquerade 19 The Lubber liv'd at Rack and Manger; Spending his time in Mirth and Laughter, With the Old Cuckold's Wife and Daughter.
1760 tr. A. J. de Salas Barbadillo Lucky Idiot (new ed.) i. 9 She..consented she should use her as his Pleasure, and let him lye at Rack and Manger.
1800 E. Hamilton Mem. Mod. Philos. I. 172 There they are, all living at rack and manger. A good hot supper last night and a fine dinner to-day.
1843 T. Carlyle Past & Present ii. i. 61 John Lackland..tearing out the bowels of St. Edmundsbury Convent..by living at rack and manger there.
1875 C. Anthon First Six Bks. Homer's Iliad 412 The reference is to a horse well fed at rack and manger, and so, overfed, waxed wanton.
1955 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 26 Jan. 33/8 To live at rack and manger is to sponge on your friends.
d. rack and manger: wasteful or improvident use of abundant supplies; lack of proper management; waste and destruction. Now English regional (southern).
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > [noun]
derayc1300
disray13..
disordinancec1374
unordaininga1382
perturbationa1398
disarrayc1410
misordera1513
disorder1530
confusionc1540
mistemper1549
indisposition1598
ataxy1615
disordination1626
indigestion1630
tumble1634
discomposure1641
incomposure1644
dyscrasy1647
dislocation1659
disarrayment1661
disjuncture1683
rack and manger1687
rantum-scantum1695
derangement1737
disarrangement1790
misarray1810
havoc1812
unhingement1817
mingle-mangleness1827
bedevilment1843
higgledy-piggledyness1854
ramshackledom1897
inchoateness1976
1687 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. s.v. To leave all at Rack and Manger, laisser tout à l'abandon.
1731 H. Fielding Genuine Grub-St. Opera iii. ii. 47 The Moment my back is turn'd every thing goes to Rack and Manger.
1766 J. M. Adair Methodist & Mimick 13 One truly pious Christian Brother, In all concerns should help another; lest cares their future state endanger, And their souls run to rack and manger.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue at Rackrent To lye at rack and manger, to be in great disorder.
1800 M. A. Hanway Andrew Stuart IV. vii. 123 Every thing of mine would go to rack and manger if I did not toil and moil.
1883 W. H. Cope Gloss. Hampshire Words 71 Rack-and-manger, expresses utter mismanagement, all going wrong.
e. U.S. to stand (also come) up to the rack: to face up to or bear the consequences of what one has undertaken; to take one's share of hard work or responsibility. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > do one's duty [verb (intransitive)] > and accept the consequences
to stand the racket1789
to stand (also come) up to the rack1834
1834 D. Crockett Narr. Life iv. 61 I was determined to stand up to my rack, fodder or no fodder.
1837 R. M. Bird Nick of Woods II. xiv. 183 But, you see, captain, there's a bargain first to be struck between us, afore I comes up to the rack.
1848 J. F. Cooper Oak Openings II. iii. 43 The English used to boast that the Americans wouldn't ‘stand up to the rack’, if the baggonet [sc. bayonet] was set to work.
1903 G. Brown How to Beat Game 74 It keeps about two-thirds of them constantly financiering in order to ‘come up to the rack’.
2.
a. A framework, typically composed of rails, bars, or pegs, in or on which articles may be placed or suspended.Frequently with distinguishing word designating the type of article for which it is designed, as bottle, cheese, gun, hat, luggage, pipe, plate, toast, towel rack, etc., or its function, as cooling, drying rack, etc. For these and other established compounds see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > support > [noun] > that which supports > supporting framework > rack
rack1388
whip-hanger1875
whip-rack1875
1388 Inquisition Misc. (P.R.O.: C 145/240/9) j Rak pur kannes & iij kannes.
1415 in E. F. Jacob & H. C. Johnson Reg. Henry Chichele (1937) II. 47 (MED) Item, a paire of rackes for þe kychyn.
1537 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 130 The tramely yn the chemney, and the rackes on the soler.
a1592 R. Greene Frier Bacon (1594) sig. B4 When we haue..set our cheese safely vpon the rackes.
1683 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises II. 183 Every Stick-full [of letters] is set up..upon the Racks, ready for the Dresser to Dress.
1694 P. A. Motteux Wks. F. Rabelais (1737) v. xxvii. 120 Having laid their Boots and Spurs on a Rack.
1788 T. Jefferson Jrnl. 14 Apr. in Papers (1956) XIII. 25 A thread is passed thro' every peice of root and it is hung separate in a kind of rack.
1842 C. Dickens Amer. Notes I. i. 4 A rack, fixed to the low roof, and stuck full of drinking-glasses and cruet-stands.
1869 E. A. Parkes Man. Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 323 A wooden rack round the centre pillar receives the rifles.
a1891 H. Melville Billy Budd xxii, in Wks. (1924) XIII. 101 Up through the great hatchway, rimmed with racks of heavy shot, the watch-below came pouring.
1919 Vinegar Hand Bk. (Hydraulic Press Manuf. Co.) 41 A rack made up as illustrated on this page, is used between each layer of the cheese to provide for drainage from the cheese.
1973 T. McGuane Ninety-two in Shade (1974) 90 The beautiful cake was on the wire rack.
2006 New Yorker 4 Sept. 118/1 She enjoyed drinking, the bright pup of the wine bottle relinquishing its cork, the gentle bell of stemware leaving the rack.
b. spec. A stand on which items of clothing are stored, transported, or displayed for sale, typically consisting of a horizontal rail on vertical supports (cf. off-the-rack adv.). Later also: a stand on which other items, such as books, newspapers, records, etc., are displayed for sale. in the racks: available for purchase.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > [noun] > rack for
fripperya1625
portmanteau1728
clothes-rack1857
rack1889
valet1942
1889 Century Dec. 228/1 He..dragged the mattresses from the crew's bunks, stripped off blankets, racks of clothes, overalls, [etc.].
1906 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald 2 July (advt.) One rack of dresses $4.98 $7.98 and $9.98.
1948 H. McClennan Precipice (1949) ii. 189 Shipping clerks pushing racks of women's dresses.
1974 Times 10 Jan. 2/5 Newsagents..had been arguing that they could keep a light on at all times over newspaper racks.
1987 New Republic 8 June 32/3 A month after the event The Case Against Adolf Eichmann was in the racks, and went on to sell 500,000 copies.
1991 N. York Rock File 171 A dealer won't want a record taking up space in the racks of his or her shop unless he or she thinks the public will ask for it.
1998 J. Ambrose in S. Champion & D. Scannell Shenanigans (1999) x. 174 In the bedroom she has a rack of grunge clothes.
3. A bar, grid, or pair or set of bars, usually of metal, used to support a spit or other cooking utensil. Now historical.See also rax n.1, where the plural racks has been taken as a singular.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > cooking vessel or pot > [noun] > bar or chain for hanging
rack1391
reckon1400
hake1402
kilp1425
pot-clip1459
pothangles1468
reckon-crook1469
kettle-hook1485
rax1519
pot hangings1521
pot hangerc1525
pot-crookc1530
pot-hook1530
trammel1537
pot-kilp1542
gallow-balk1583
hale1589
hanger1599
pot-keep1611
pot rack1619
reckon hook1645
ratten crook1665
winter1668
rantle1671
cotterel1674
rantle-tree1685
rannel-balk1781
sway1825
rannel-perch1855
1391 in L. T. Smith Exped. Prussia & Holy Land Earl Derby (1894) 18 (MED) Pro ij paribus rakkes pro caudrons pendendis.
1424 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 56 Too spytes, and a peyre rakkes of yryne, and to brandernes.
1434 in F. J. Furnivall Fifty Earliest Eng. Wills (1882) 102 (MED) A rake of yren forto rost on his eyren.
1467 in Manners & Househ. Expenses Eng. (1841) 399 In makenge of rakkes of tre to roste one, xij d.
1519 in C. Innes Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis (1845) II. 175 ij irne rakkis for the fyre.
1564 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 223 Toynges, gibcrokes, rakincroke, and rackes.
1617 J. Minsheu Ἡγεμὼν είς τὰς γλῶσσας: Ductor in Linguas A Racke or Cobborne to lay the broch in at the fire... A racke is properly that which is of yron which hath a long ranke of barres in it, and a Cobborne or Coleburne are the little ones of wood.
a1643 W. Cartwright Lady-errant v. i, in Comedies (1651) sig. e3 Spits, Andirons, Racks, and such like Utensils.
1685 Inv. Ch. Wetherill of Keadby 15 May (N. W. Linc. Gloss.) One iyron potte and one land iyron with spitts and racks and crookes.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Rack, a Wooden Frame..to lay Spits on in a Kitchin.
1732 D. Bond True & Exact Particular & Inventory 35 A Range compleat, with a Craine and Spit, Racks, a jack with a Multiplying Wheel, Weights and Pullies, five Spits.
1781 G. Dollitt Catal. Househ. Furnit. 5 A strong fender, a hanging-iron, racks and spit, and a set of fire-irons.
1888 S. O. Addy Gloss. Words Sheffield Rack, a piece of iron to hang a spit on.
1941 Slave Narr. (Federal Writers' Project WPA) IV. iv. 52 Racks what dey called cranes to hang de pots on for b'ilin'.
1998 Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 10 Mar. fd1 [In the Hampton Court kitchens] huge iron pots hang in the hearths, with racks and spits for the disposition of meats.
†4. An iron bar or grid to which a prisoner may be secured. Also figurative. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > restraint or restraining > restraint depriving of liberty > binding or fettering > [noun] > post or bar for shackling to
gaid?a1500
rackc1503
c1503 R. Arnold Chron. f. xxxijv/2 Ye warde must haue a racke wt ij. longe cheynes of yrne.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. iv. sig. P7v Both his hands fast bound behind his backe, And both his feet in fetters to an yron rack.
1652 Bastard v. iv. 79 First with strong ropes wee'll bind them to the rack; And with hott Irons extort their sparkling Eyes.
1697 G. Stanhope tr. P. Charron Of Wisdom (1729) III. xxiii. 1451 Men in those Circumstances have the Addition of this Misfortune, confined to their Houses, their Beds, tied to a Rack, and loaded with Fetters.
5. Mechanics.
a. A winding mechanism including a toothed wheel and a notched bar acting as a ratchet, used to draw some types of crossbow. Now historical and rare.Treated in N.E.D. (1903) as a sense of rack n.3
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > archer's weapons > [noun] > bow > crossbow > device for bending crossbow
brakec1380
vicea1400
windas1443
tyllole1489
gaffle1497
rack1513
goat's footc1515
bending1530
crick1530
bender1684
garrot1824
moulinet1846
1513 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1884) V. 36 To my broder John my bigge crosbow wt the rakke of it.
1578 in G. J. Piccope Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (1860) II. 60 One crosse bowe wth the racke to the same.
1630 M. Drayton Muses Elizium vi. 52 My Crosse-bow in my Hand, my Gaffle or my Rack To bend it when I please.
1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Math. Magick i. xiii. 91 The force of racks, which serve for bending of the strongest bows.
1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Ggv/3 To set up a Cross-bow with a Rack.
2002 Jrnl. Soc. Archer-Antiquaries 45 6/2 It seems that the rack, with the heavy crossbow, went out of general use, probably as the result of the development of improved firearms in the 16th century.
b. In extended use: a notched, cogged, or toothed bar for engaging a cogwheel, pinion, or worm so as to convert rotary into linear motion, or vice versa, or to adjust and hold the position of something.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [noun] > converters
pallet1676
rack1717
parallel motion1728
rack and pinion?c1780
rack bara1824
radius rod1834
rack rod1839
1717 W. Vream Descr. Air-pump 4 The Winch is fasten'd to a Spindle, that passes thro' a Lantern, whose Pins perform the Office of Cogs; for in its Motion, they lay hold on the Teeth of the Racks.
1734 J. T. Desaguliers Course Exper. Philos. I. iii. 123 There must be five Revolutions of the Handle fix'd to it to turn the said Wheel once round, whose three-leav'd Pinion R will in that Revolution just move the Rack three Teeth, or one Inch.
1797 Encycl. Brit. IX. 19 The teeth of these four wheels take alternately into the teeth of four racks.
1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 39 The friction-bar..being connected..to the front [of the cart] by a closely notched or toothed rack.
1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. 310 The writing-board, or flap, might be made to rise with a rack and horse.
1881 F. Young Every Man his own Mechanic 238 The inner jaw is immovable and to the bottom of it a steel rack is fastened.
1930 F. D. Jones Ingenious Mechanisms I. i. 27 A pinion moving along a stationary rack will cause a movable rack on the opposite side to travel with twice the pitch-line velocity of the pinion.
1977 E. Smith Clocks vi. 161 It may be noted..that many modern rack striking clocks with the snail on the central arbor are so disposed that they use a one-piece rack and rack tail.
1992 Autosport 23 Apr. 19/2 The steering rack was loose, and there was a little play. It was very difficult to drive on the straight, and when the car was oversteering, you couldn't get countersteer.
c. rack and pinion n. (also †pinion and rack (obsolete rare)) a mechanism comprising a rack coupled to a pinion (pinion n.4); frequently attributive.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [noun] > converters
pallet1676
rack1717
parallel motion1728
rack and pinion?c1780
rack bara1824
radius rod1834
rack rod1839
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [adjective] > converter
rack and pinion?c1780
?c1780 Descr. Utensils Husbandry sold by James Sharp (caption) Mr Arbuthnots draining plough, improved by Rack & Pinion, to work at any Width.
1800 Communications Board of Agric. 2 415 By means of this pinion and rack, the front of the carriage is elevated more or less, in proportion to the declivity of the hill.
1837 C. R. Goring & A. Pritchard Micrographia 217 Various ingenious contrivances..retaining the rack-and-pinion movement.
1858 D. Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Philos.: Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, & Heat (new ed.) 32 Sliding shutters, which are raised and lowered by racks and pinions.
1890 Cent. Dict. Mesh, to engage (the teeth of wheels or the teeth of a rack and pinion) with each other.
1903 Baedeker's Italy: 1st Pt.: Northern Italy (ed. 12) 13 From Capolago to the Monte Generoso, rack-and-pinion railway in 56 minutes.
1930 H. G. Newth Marshall & Hurst's Junior Course Pract. Zool. (ed. 11) p. xxxiii The coarse adjustment of focus is made by means of a rack and pinion worked by two large milled heads.
1954 R. H. Cochrane Farm Machinery & Tractors (ed. 2) 7 Trailer ploughs are fitted with self lifts, which fall into two types, the hub lift and the rack and pinion lift.
1978 Daily Tel. 16 Aug. 10/6 The ride is on the firm side with the handling being safe and predictable from the rack and pinion steering.
1996 Holiday Which? Jan. 16/1 The first leg of this route is by coach, followed by a vertiginous climb by train—without the aid of rack and pinion.
d. = rack rail n. at Compounds.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > track > types of rail
bridge rail1759
rack rail1829
light rail1836
saddle rail1837
T rail1837
rack1847
foot rail1856
tooth-rail1862
U-rail1868
strap-rail1874
check-rail1876
cog-rail1884
1847 C. Staley Gillespie's Man. Princ. & Pract. Road-making 289 In 1811 a toothed rack was laid along the road, and a wheel with teeth was attached to the engine and fitted into the rack.
1909 Westm. Gaz. 7 Aug. 7/2 The greater part of the line would traverse exceedingly difficult country, necessitating..possibly a few short lengths of rack.
1913 Times 3 Dec. 26/3 The gradients, except where the rack was employed, were not particularly severe for a mountain railway.
2004 Business Line (Nexis) 21 May The tracks are so steep that the racks are laid between the rails to form alternating ‘teeth’ which hold the engine and the coaches, preventing the train from slipping or sliding back.
6. A framework, usually with a lattice or ladder-like structure, having a specific function and frequently forming part of a larger construction.
a. = hay-rack n. 2. Now chiefly North American and rare.
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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > parts of cart or carriage > [noun] > body > openwork side
rack1593
1593 C. Hollyband Dict. French & Eng. Bers de chariot, the sides or racks of a wagon.
1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Gggv/3 The Racks of the Cart are broken.
1754 J. Barrow Suppl. New & Universal Dict. at Carriage Carriages..which every one is at liberty to have,..such as drays, cars without racks, the waggons and carts used by carriers, [etc.].
1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. i. 214 Ox-carts with rickety racks loaded with hay.
1867 Sci. Amer. 16 284 Comstock's Lumber Wagon Rack... In the rack represented in the engraving the body of the wagon is inclined by means of bolsters of differing heights.
1925 J. A. Bellows & E. M. Tuttle Bk. Rural Life IV. 2536 In some places the rack consists simply in a floor with a standard at the front and rear, while in others, sides as well as ends are provided.
1991 Toronto Star (Nexis) 28 Feb. f1 Last year..his store stocked the Radio Flyer, a Chicago-made oak wagon [for children] with removable wooden side-racks and semi-pneumatic tires that sold for $159.
2006 Aberdeen (S. Dakota) Amer. News (Nexis) 25 July ff36 Bale transport wagons or trailers should have appropriate carrying capacity, proper width, and end racks.
b. Mining. An inclined frame on which the slime formed from crushed ore is washed to recover the metal (esp. tin). Cf. rag v.4, ragging n.3 2b. Now chiefly historical.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > equipment for treating ores > [noun] > for washing ore > for tin
rack1839
rack-table1839
tin-frame1881
1671 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 6 2111 A Reck..is a frame made of boards about three foot and an half broad, and six long, which turns upon two iron pegs fastened in both ends, and the whole placed upon two posts.
1673 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Words 122 The head tin passes to the wreck, where they work it with a wooden rake in Vessels.
1778 W. Pryce Mineralogia Cornubiensis 227 The frame or rack..consists of two inclined planes of timber.
1804 M. Edgeworth Lame Jervas viii, in Pop. Tales I. 48 I had new models made of the sieves for lueing, the box, and trough, the buddle, wreck, and tool.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1244 The rough [tin ore] is washed in buddles;..the slimes..upon a kind of twin tables, called racks.
1893 Longman's Mag. Feb. 375 (note) A mine-girl that works at a ‘rack’, and who separates the particles of tin from the finely crushed ore.
1963 E. J. Pryor Dict. Min. Technol. 316 Rack, reck; ragging frame. Tilting table on which concentrates are separated from passing flow of finely ground pulp, system being arranged to be periodically self-flushing.
†c. A part of a moulding machine, consisting of a thin piece of wood with the pattern of the work incised on it. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1678 J. Moxon Mech. Exercises I. vi. 104 To this Engine belongs a thin flat peece of Hard wood, about an Inch and a quarter broad..called the Rack. It hath its under flat cut into those fashioned waves..your work shall have.
d. Nautical. A wooden framework at the base of a mast in which ropes are secured or through which they run; esp. = halyard-rack n. at halyard n. Compounds 2. Also: = pin-rack n. See also rack block n. at Compounds. Now historical.
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > other equipment of vessel > [noun] > other equipment
rack1691
ice hook1694
searcher1775
fumigation-lamp1815
mete-stick1815
boat axe1820
devil's claw1833
telegraph1842
boat slide1854
anchor ball1858
umbrella warping1867
anchor ball1942
coffee grinder1952
1691 J. Smith Sea-mans Gram. ii. 7 Knevels are small pieces of Wood nailed to the inside of the Ship, to belay the Sheats and Racks unto.
1753 G. G. Beekman Let. 24 June in Beekman Mercantile Papers (1956) I. 178 The hoops and racks are still unsold and Cannot sell them here at any Price bieng made of Ash... Our Blockmakers will not give a Shilling a dozen for them.
1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine Suppl. The rack..placed on each side of the gammoning of a ship's bow-sprit.
1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship I. 171 Rack, a short thin plank, with holes made through it, containing a number of belaying-pins.
1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship I. 172 Rack, a long shell, containing a number of sheaves, formerly fixed over the bowsprit to lead in the running rigging.
1846 Times 19 Mar. 3/5 The more regularly laid arrangement of the rope, adjusted by a wooden rack,..is far more cumbersome.
1871 L. Colange Zell's Pop. Encycl. II. 703/2 Rack, a strong wooden frame-work, supplied with several shears for receiving the running rigging; a rack-block.
1985 P. Clissold Ansted's Dict. Sea Terms (ed. 3) 225 Rack, a frame of timber containing several sheaves or fairleads for ropes. In small craft almost any fairlead may be called a rack. Also a rail for belaying pins.
1989 E. W. Sager Seafaring Labour (1996) iv. 116 Around the decks, set in racks, were belaying pins used to secure or belay running rigging.
†e. A framework set in a river to prevent the passage of fish. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > other fishing equipment > [noun] > other fishing devices
raw1533
taining1533
kepper1558
rack1735
fluke-rake1766
runner1766
jig1846
bush1880
fish-gorge1883
gorge1883
1735 in Colonial Rec. Pennsylvania (1851) IV. 24 Great Numbers of People..beat the Water down with great Noise..to force the Fish down into the Racks.
f. In organ-building: = pipe rack n. 1.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > parts supporting pipes
foot1828
rack board1840
pipe holder1847
rack1853
pipe rack1855
rack pillar1876
boot1880
rack pin1881
1853 C. Tomlinson Cycl. Useful Arts (1854) II. 350/1 The upper part of the feet of the pipes is supported by racks or thin boards..mounted on small pillars.
1903 N.E.D. at Rack sb.2 5.e. Rack,..in organ-building = pipe-rack.
2001 D. Gwynn Hist. Organ Conservation x. 64 If they [sc. pipes] have to be coned, they can be taken out of the rack and tuned in the hand.
g. A framework for supporting and allowing ready access to (frequently specified) items of electrical or electronic equipment.
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society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > telephone equipment > [noun] > exchange > exchange equipment
private line1852
bank1884
call-disc1884
howler1886
trunk1889
multiple switchboard1891
rack1893
line switch1898
heat coil1900
relay rack1902
multiple1905
listening key1906
telharmonium1906
wiper1906
preselector1912
line finder1922
rank1924
routiner1928
keysender1929
uniselector1930
wiper arm1933
1893 W. H. Preece & A. J. Stubbs Man. Telephony xix. 311 An even more effective contrivance for cable racks..is shown in fig. 240.
1906 J. Poole Pract. Telephone Handbk. (ed. 3) xxi. 299 Condenser Rack.—This frame is for the accommodation of the 2½-microfarad condensers used in connection with the incoming junction lines.
1930 Proc. IRE 18 1320 The amplifiers are mounted on relay racks and connected by twin lead wire pulled in rigid conduit.
1951 Short Wave Mag. May 179/1 The left-hand rack, No. 1, starting at the bottom, contains the filament supplies for all transmitters; the 1000 v. HT supply for the 430 and 144 mc exciters; [etc.].
1977 Gramophone June 118/2 It is common practice for tuners, preamplifiers, power amplifiers, equalizers, etc. to be mounted on slotted panels, which are mounted vertically into racks.
1996 B. Duncan in P. Trynka Rock Hardware 84/3 The desk's stereo output signals pass on to an FX (sound effects) rack, containing equipment used to give overall control over the signal.
h. U.S. A quay for ferry boats built from wooden piles. Also: the timber buffers used in a ferry-boat quay. rare.
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society > travel > travel by water > berthing, mooring, or anchoring > harbour or port > [noun] > buffer on a ferry slip
rack1903
1903 Nation (N.Y.) 6 Aug. 115/2 Another Americanism we miss under Racks, the technical name for the side plankings or buffers of our ferry slips.
1905 N.Y. Evening Post 20 Dec. 1 Three of the Lackawanna ‘racks’, as the arrangement of piles to fit the ferryboats are called, were left intact.
i. U.S. Military slang. A bed or bunk, esp. one on a ship which folds against a wall.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > bed > [noun]
restOE
bedc995
laira1000
couch1340
littera1400
libbege1567
pad1703
spond1763
fleabag1811
dab1812
snooze1819
downy1846
kip1879
the hay1903
Uncle Ned1925
rack1939
fart sack1943
sack1943
pit1948
uncle1982
1920 T. H. Kelly What Outfit Buddy? 42 I believe I'd have suffocated if it wasn't for a trick that some wise bird played on Johnson, who cushayed in the bunk above. You see, our tier of torture-racks was right below one of those air funnels [etc.].]
1939 Amer. Speech 14 29/2 Rack, cadet bed.
1945 Richmond (Va.) News-leader 19 Mar. 22 The Navy doesn't use hammocks any more. Every man has a bed. It is called a ‘rack’. It's merely a tubular framework, with wire springs stretched across it. It is attached to the wall by hinges and is folded up against the wall in the daytime.
1955 C. Kentfield Alchemist's Voy. I. iii. 68 ‘Where's D'Alessio?’ ‘In his rack.’
1974 E. Bowen Henry & Other Heroes v. 106 By morning the sea had eased somewhat. The Polish boy and I had made it back to the rack for a few hours sleep.
2003 A. Swofford Jarhead 30 One morning during a heavy rain we shoved our racks to the bulkheads and turned our barracks into a mini-drill-field and practiced close order drill.
7. Lacemaking. A measure of length of a piece of lace. Now chiefly historical.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement of length > [noun] > the measure of length > specific
London measure1647
quincupedal1656
sextula1656
Paris point1781
rack1831
angstrom1881
submicron1927
1831 Morley in Ure Cotton Manuf. (1861) II. 356 A rack is a certain length of work counted perpendicularly, and contains 240 meshes or holes.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 733 A 24 rack piece..is now sold for 7s.
1865 F. B. Palliser Hist. Lace xxxv. 419 (note) Bobbin net is measured by the ‘rack’, which consists of 240 meshes. This mode of counting was adopted to avoid the frequent disagreements about measure which arose..in consequence of the elasticity of net.
1916 Ann. Amer. Acad. Polit. & Social Sci. 65 (chart between pp. 60 and 61) (caption) Chart showing the variation..in output (in racks) in one large lace mill from Jan., 1911 to June 1915.
1982 P. Earnshaw Dict. Lace 139 Rack, a measurement of bobbinet length used because the stretchability of the product made cheating on yardage too easy.
†8. = rack deal n. Obsolete. rare.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > wood in specific form > [noun] > board or plank > types of
quarter-board1355
deal1400
fir-deala1450
planchettec1450
crust1486
deal-board1568
slab1573
scabbard1635
scale1683
scale-board1711
planchet1730
shinbin1791
rack deal1808
rack1835
shinlog1842
slabwood1844
1835 White in Parl. Rep. Timber Duties 206 The merchants would not sell a cargo without taking some rack and some seconds..and generally the timber merchants had a great many of what were called second rack.
9. Pool.
a. A receptacle for the balls pocketed by players in the course of a game. Now rare.
ΚΠ
1883 Atchison (Kansas) Globe 19 Sept. The second game Lamer put fourteen balls in the rack the first inning, but the next game Shaefer did not give him a chance to chalk his cue.
1897 National Police Gaz. (U.S.) 6 Feb. 10/1 In a game of common pool, if I shoot at a ball and the ball goes in one pocket and also the cue ball, do I have to spot that ball and another from the rack?
1937 N.Y. Times 13 Apr. 33/2 With thirteen balls in the rack and the cue ball resting just off the back rail, the former champion brought the house down with a multiple kiss shot.
b. A frame in the shape of a triangle or diamond, used to position the balls for a game; the balls so positioned. Hence also: a single game of pool. Cf. frame n. 10.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [noun] > wooden frame used for setting up balls
triangle1890
rack1896
1896 Washington Post 13 Dec. 8/4 The contest was close and of the see-saw order on the last four frames. On the final rack Harding broke, and Tuttle followed, pocketing but one ball.
1905 Newark (New Jersey) 15 Apr. 5/1 The first rack of balls was disposed of by Dr. Miller and Mr. Hupp, before Mr. Weston had a chance to take a shot.
1987 T. Foster Rue du Bac (1991) 122 It had started with a rack of pool at Cormier's Billiard Parlor.
1994 Philadelphia Inquirer (Nexis) 25 Mar. 20 The balls are gathered in the triangle rack with the black eight-ball in the middle.
2001 M. Hegwood Massacre Island 5 I hit the cue ball good and hard, got a loud pop when it smacked the rack of balls.
10. North American. A set of deer antlers.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > male > [noun] > body and parts > antler > collectively
headc1400
rightc1425
attire1562
attirement1566
head of horns1626
stag-horns1663
head of antlers1839
antlery1849
rack1915
1867 Old Guard 5 7/1 He..carefully hung up his rifle upon the rack of deer antlers over the door.]
1915 New Oxford (Pa.) Item 23 Dec. 1/5 The largest buck killed this year was brought down by a Franklin county hunter; the rack of this monarch of the woods had fifteen points.
1958 Outdoor Life Sept. 34/1 I'd shot moose in British Columbia but never a really big one. This trip I was determined to get a trophy rack.
1978 L. L. Rue Deer N. Amer. iv. 66 A deer with more than four points is called a rack buck... Some racks are large but have few points, some are small but have more points.
2001 Nat. New England May–June 38/3 Moose five or more years old generally grow the real ‘racks’—the palmated antlers that most folks think of as moose antlers.
11. slang (originally U.S.). A woman's breasts.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > trunk > front > breast or breasts (of woman) > [noun]
titOE
breastOE
mammaOE
pysea1400
mamellec1450
dug1530
duckya1533
bag1579
pommela1586
mam1611
Milky Way1622
bubby?1660
udder1702
globea1727
fore-buttock1727
tetty1746
breastwork?1760
diddy1788
snows1803
sweets1817
titty1865
pappy1869
Charleys1874
bub1881
breastiec1900
ninny1909
pair1919
boobs1932
boobya1934
fun bag1938
maraca1940
knockers1941
can1946
mammaries1947
bazooms1955
jug1957
melon1957
bosoms1959
Bristols1961
chichi1961
nork1962
puppies1963
rack1968
knob1970
dingleberry1980
jubblies1991
1968 C. F. Baker et al. College Undergraduate Slang Study (typescript, Brown Univ.) 180 Rack, the female breasts.
1970 J. Bouton Ball Four v. 259 Check the rack on that broad.
1992 P. Lefcourt Dreyfus Affair (1993) iii. 27 She sure had a nice rack.
2004 Mirror (Nexis) 1 June 28 Fantastic smile. It was the first thing that attracted me to her. Great rack! The second thing that attracted me.

Compounds

rack-bent adj. rare bent by means of a rack and pinion.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > archer's weapons > [adjective] > of crossbow: bent
rack-bent1694
1694 P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais Pantagruel's Voy.: 4th Bk. Wks. iv. xxxi. 124 His Back, like an overgrown rack-bent Cross-Bow [Fr. comme une arbaleste de passe].
1737 J. Ozell in tr. F. Rabelais Wks. II. v. 33 (note) Prodigious rack-bent Cross-bows.
1955 J. M. Cohen tr. F. Rabelais Gargantua & Pantagruel xxiii. 90 He threw the dart, the bar, the stone, the javelin, the boar-spear, and the halbert; drew a bow to the full, bent by main force great rack-bent cross-bows.
rack block n. Nautical a wooden frame containing several sheaves (sheave n.1 2a).
ΚΠ
1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship I. 156 Rack-blocks are a range of small single blocks, made from one solid.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. 557 Rack-block, a range of sheaves cut in one piece of wood, for running ropes to lead through.
1927 G. Bradford Gloss. Sea Terms 136/2 Rack block, a series of fairlead sheaves set in a piece of wood.
1989 tr. W. zu Mondfeld Hist. Ship Models 320 Spritsail clew lines belayed to a cleat in the head before 1720, and later reeved through the gammon lashing or rack block and belayed to a timber head on the forecastle.
rack board n. one of the boards forming the pipe rack of an organ.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > parts supporting pipes
foot1828
rack board1840
pipe holder1847
rack1853
pipe rack1855
rack pillar1876
boot1880
rack pin1881
1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 493/2 A is the rack-board, by which the pipes are held in upright position.
1959 Musical Times 100 103/1 The pipes were supported at the tops, not by rack boards.
2002 Sun (Lowell, Mass.) (Nexis) 26 Oct. The instrument will be taken apart and refurbished... The rack board where the wooden pipes rest will be fixed so the pipes don't wobble.
† rack-calipers n. Obsolete rare calipers fitted with a rack and pinion for setting adjustments.
ΚΠ
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1852/1 Rack-calipers, calipers whose legs are opened and closed by rack-and-pinion motion.
rack car n. U.S. any of various kinds of railway wagon, originally with an open top or sides, used for transporting freight; (in later use) spec. a railway wagon with two or three levels, used for transporting motor vehicles.
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society > travel > rail travel > rolling stock > [noun] > railway wagon or carriage > with openwork sides
rack car1856
1856 Amer. Railway Times 3 July 2/3 The present equipment of the road consists of 52 locomotives; 41 passenger cars; 7 baggage cars; 673 covered freight, and 121 rack cars; 111 small gravel cars, and 97 hand cars.
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1863/1 [Railway-cars] had four wheels, no springs, and no roof; similar cars, termed ‘rack-cars’, are still in use.
1966 Nevada State Jrnl. 24 Mar. 14/6 For one first class railway ticket, you could load your car and the family onto a modified railway rack car and go all the way at high speed—sitting in your own car.
1989 Railway Age Oct. 41 Good-as-new rack cars converted from old intermodal cars now make up 64% of the Trailer Train fleet.
rack chain n. a chain by which a horse may be fastened to the rack in a stall.
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the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > [noun] > stabling > chain fastening horse to stall rack
rack chain1828
1828 R. Darvill Treat. Race Horse 55 A rack-chain may be fixed in the centre of the stall.
1907 Yesterday's Shopping 313/1 Stable Sundries... Rack chain, extra strong.
1963 E. H. Edwards Saddlery xxii. 167 Usually a rope..to the rear of a head collar is best for tying up unless one has rack chains.
2006 Racing Post (Nexis) 31 May 12 It's better with her head to the door than with a rack chain. On a rack chain, she's lethal.
rack chase n. Printing a chase (chase n.2 2) with racked sides into which fit two adjustable bars.
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society > communication > printing > composing equipment > [noun] > chase
chase1612
rack chase1882
newspaper chase1888
1882 J. Southward Pract. Printing vi. 72 Rack chases for fixing small formes on presses are made the size of a press table, and obviate the use of furniture.
1898 J. Southward Mod. Printing I. ix. 66 Rack chases..are made to fit the carriage of a press and the bed of a machine.
† rack-compass n. Obsolete rare a pair of compasses fitted with a rack for setting adjustments.
ΚΠ
1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 1852/1 Rack-compass, a joiner's compass, with a rack adjustment.
rack easel n. an artist's easel fitted with a rack to allow adjustment of the height.
ΚΠ
1855 E. Groom Art of Transparent Painting on Glass i. 15 The easel best adapted for painting on glass, will be obtained by taking a rack easel drawing-board, and inserting a framed piece of glass instead of the shifting board.
1859 T. J. Gullick & J. Timbs Painting 199 The square ‘rack’ easel which allows the painter greater facility in raising or lowering his picture.
1908 Eng. Illustr. Mag. May 114/1 In the open space..a big rack easel stood, and on it the picture.
rack-hurdle n. now English regional (Berkshire) a hurdle with openings in it to allow animals to put their heads through to feed, as from a rack.
ΚΠ
1794 G. Turner Gen. View Agric. Gloucester 17 Rack hurdles, which are made..[by] leaving the middle rail out, and nailing spars across.
1888 B. Lowsley Gloss. Berks. Words & Phrases 135 Rack-hurdles, hurdles of substantial lathing or split wood.
rack-hurry n. English regional (Cumberland) a hurry (hurry n. 6b) for delivering coal, fitted with a rack to separate out pieces that are too small.
ΚΠ
a1788 I. Ritson Copy of Let. (Cumb. dial.) Tha feed tem [sc. Sea-Nags = ships] wi' beck-sand,..but nut out o rack-hurries.
1899 Cumbld. Gloss. Rack-hurry,..a rack formed of iron bars fixed in the shoot or hurry, which allowed the small coal..to drop through.
rack lever n. Watchmaking and Clockmaking (now historical) (in early forms of lever escapement) a lever terminating in a rack by means of which the movement is effected; (also) = lever escapement n. at lever n.1 Compounds 2.
ΚΠ
1850 E. B. Denison Rudimentary Treat. Clock & Watch Making 147 This was the rack-lever movement.
1962 E. Bruton Dict. Clocks & Watches (1963) 139 Rack Lever, a transitional lever escapement before Mudge's detached lever.
1984 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Apr. 359/4 He has a sound knowledge of the craft and mechanisms of the later period: detents, cylinders, rack levers and grasshoppers.
rackman n. U.S. rare a person who distributes newspapers from the printer to individual sales racks.
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society > communication > journalism > supply of news or newspapers > [noun] > one who delivers to newspaper racks
rackman1942
1942 N.Y. Times 17 Dec. 32/2 Federal Judge W. Calvin Chesnut ruled today that street distributors of newspapers are not employes [sic] of the publication and dismissed a suit for back pay and overtime brought by three ‘rackmen’ against the Baltimore Sun papers.
1943 Sun (Baltimore) 17 Sept. 20/2 The..Court of Appeals upheld today a lower court decision that rackmen distributing papers..for the publishing company of the Baltimore Sun were not engaging in interstate commerce within the meaning of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
† rack-meat n. Obsolete fodder placed in racks.
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the world > food and drink > food > animal food > [noun] > fodder > fodder for horses
horsemeat1404
horse-bread1467
horse-loafc1468
bayard's bunc1520
garbage1526
bait1570
rack-meat1607
greaves1614
ray1656
gram1702
oat hay1843
oaten hay1891
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > [noun] > stabling > stall > contents of stall
rack-meat1607
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice 33 After you haue musseld vp your horse..you shall..take away the wheate-straw from his racke, not suffering him to haue any more racke meate till the wager bee past.
1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Dec. vii. 46 To..further their Fattening, by enough of dry, hearty Trough and Rack-meat in Time.
1849 G. A. Dean Ess. Constr. Farm Buildings & Labourers' Cottages 23 Horses who work hard should have no rack-meat given to them, considering that they satisfy their hunger much quicker..from the manger.
rack mount n. a rack of a type suitable for supporting electrical or electronic equipment; cf. sense 6g.
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society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > use of specific equipment
autodialling1935
rack mounting1940
rack mount1959
1959 Science 13 Feb. 509/2 (advt.) Donner plug-in amplifiers in rack-mount configuration.
1976 Physics Bull. Jan. 9 Available in either a rack-mount or a cabinet configuration, it is designed to be used by persons with little or no previous experience with signal averagers.
1994 Spy (N.Y.) Sept. 91/1 Body style: Desktop configuration; 13-slot rack mount.
rack-mount v. transitive to place (electrical or electronic equipment) on a rack mount; cf. sense 6g.
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1962 Science 16 Feb. 576 The tester, which may be rack-mounted, is powered by the manufacturer's model PS/200/3.5 power supply.
1985 Computing Equipm. Sept. 13/1 (advt.) They are compact, extremely rugged, [and] can be rack-mounted or placed on a desk top.
2001 Future Music June 59/1 As with the original it can be rack mounted by using the supplied rack ears.
rack-mountable adj. (of electrical or electronic equipment) capable of being rack-mounted; cf. sense 6g.
ΚΠ
1969 Times 1 Apr. 24 Available in pedestal, table-top and rack mountable..versions, the integrated-circuit 316 has a cycle time of 1.6 microseconds.
2004 Future Music May 54/2 It has..spawned both a rack-mountable version and a diminutive reduced-polyphony version.
rack-mounted adj. (of electrical or electronic equipment) mounted on a rack; cf. sense 6g.
ΚΠ
1957 Times Recorder (Zanesville, Ohio) 25 Mar. 1/8 Somebody broke into Radio Station WACC early today and stole the following:..two rack-mounted amplifiers, a rack-mounted recorder, and one soldering iron.
1982 Guitar Player June 135 (advt.) The Pro-FX System..is the industry's first modular, expandable, rackmounted, completely programmable signal processing system.
2006 Network World 6 Mar. 12/1 Blade servers..consume a greater amount of electrical power per square foot than traditional rack-mounted servers.
rack mounting n. and adj. (a) n. the use of standardized racks for supporting electrical or electronic equipment; (b) adj. = rack-mountable adj.
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society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > telephony > [noun] > use of specific equipment
autodialling1935
rack mounting1940
rack mount1959
1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 697/1 Rack mounting, the use of standard racks..for mounting panels carrying apparatus..with a uniform scheme of wiring.
1977 Gramophone June 118/1 A Sony rack mounting amplifier using pulse width modulation.
1979 Sci. Amer. (U.K. ed.) June 8/2 (advt.) The 5315B is essentially the same instrument housed in a metal case for rack mounting or stacking.
1991 Process Engin. Aug. 52/4 Intek Electronics has introduced a ruggedised computer housed in a desktop or rack mounting steel enclosure to survive tough environments.
rack pillar n. one of the small upright pieces of wood supporting the rack boards in an organ.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > parts supporting pipes
foot1828
rack board1840
pipe holder1847
rack1853
pipe rack1855
rack pillar1876
boot1880
rack pin1881
1876 J. Hiles Catech. Organ v. 36 Rack-pillars, supporting the rack-boards.
1968 Times 28 Sept. 8/6 It is accompanied by ranks of wood and metal organ pipes, a box of threaded wood rack-pillars, iron springs for concussion-bellows, [etc.].
2001 D. Gwynn Hist. Organ Conservation x. 78 That includes upperboard screws, rack pillars, pallet springs and pulldowns.
rack pole n. one of the poles or bars in a rack (in various senses).
ΚΠ
1662 B. Gerbier Brief Disc. Princ. Building 32 The Rack Poles three Inches asunder and upright.
1897 Trenton (New Jersey) Evening Times 15 Dec. 7/4 Every bridle was tied to the rack poles in doubled and twisted hard knots.
1996 Tel.-Herald (Dubuque, Iowa) (Nexis) 29 Sept. e1 They look through the racks for a matching shirt to put under a jumper. They find hats to top rack poles.
rack rail n. a toothed rail which engages the teeth of a cogwheel, esp. on the locomotives of a rack railway.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > track > types of rail
bridge rail1759
rack rail1829
light rail1836
saddle rail1837
T rail1837
rack1847
foot rail1856
tooth-rail1862
U-rail1868
strap-rail1874
check-rail1876
cog-rail1884
1829 Niles' Weekly Reg. 16 May 186/2 Blenkinsop's locomotive engine, which operated by means of cog-wheels and rack-rails, was invented and applied on the Leeds rail road in 1811.
1918 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 13/1 See hazardous bridges being built, and the rack-rail employed to surmount steep gradients.
2001 Xinhua Econ. News Service (Nexis) 27 June Railway or tramway track construction material of iron or steel, the following: rack rails, switch blades, crossing frogs, point rods and other crossing pieces.
rack railway n. a railway track having a rack rail as well as running rails; a railway which uses a rack and pinion locomotive system.
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society > travel > rail travel > railway system or organization > [noun] > a railway > of specific construction
rackway1825
surface road1835
light railway1842
switchback1863
rack railway1879
monorail1884
chair road1895
cog-railway1896
mono-railway1902
cog-wheel system1904
monoline1992
1879 Globe Encycl. V. 297/2 Elevated rack railways, such as that from the Battery to 30th Street, New York, are features in the streets of some American cities.
1913 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 128/2 This railway introduces a cheaper means of ascending rugged mountains than the rack-railway laid upon the ground.
2002 F. Close et al. Particle Odyssey iv. 51 (caption) With a summit of 4300 m served by a rack-railway, Pikes Peak was an ideal high-altitude site for investigating cosmic rays.
rack rod n. = rack bar n.1
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [noun] > converters
pallet1676
rack1717
parallel motion1728
rack and pinion?c1780
rack bara1824
radius rod1834
rack rod1839
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 360 A pushing rod..that passes behind the rack rod.
1943 J. Rosbloom Diesel Hand Bk. 279 A rack rod extends horizontally along the rear face of the pump, meshing with precision cut gears on the upper members of the pairs of piston control sleeves.
1991 M. Walker Classic German Racing Motorcycles ii. 29/1 Attached to the diaphragm was a rack-rod, which engaged with a gear on each of the two plungers.
rack saw n. (a) a saw with widely set teeth (now rare); (b) (also rack saw bench) a large circular or band saw with a travelling table operated by a rack mechanism.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > saw > [noun] > other saws
handsaw1399
rug-saw1582
frame saw1633
nocksaw1659
bow-saw1678
lock saw1688
stadda1688
wire saw1688
panel saw1754
keyhole saw1761
web saw1799
table saw1832
rack saw1846
scroll-saw1851
fretsaw1865
back saw1874
foxtail-saw1874
tub-saw1874
gullet-saw1875
Swede saw1934
1846 C. Holtzapffel Turning & Mech. Manip. II. 794. Two saws mounted on the same spindle are used in cutting the teeth of combs... The smaller saw..cuts..part way down, on the same principle as in..rack saws.
1898 Daily News 8 Feb. 3/5 The rack saw, with its 50-feet running platform.
1912 Railway Engineer Mar. 178/2 There is a rack saw in the saw shed.
2002 Tractor & Machinery Dec. 22/3 The tractor..was able to run quite comfortably operating the rack saw bench on the Saturday of the show.
rack side n. a part of a rack (in various senses) forming the side.
ΚΠ
1650 Beware Beare 12 While they were viewing, they could heare a voice from the Rack side... They looked up, and spied Balbula amongst the Rack staves.
1833 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Cottage Archit. 531 The rack sides (top and bottom rails) to be 4 inches by 2 inches and a quarter, and to be fitted in with turned rack staves.
2006 Scripps Howard News Service (Nexis) 13 Nov. Place an adjustable V-shaped rack in a..roasting pan (set rack sides so the bird is a minimum of 2 inches from pan bottom).
rack spring n. a spring attached to a rack in a mechanical device, esp. the movement of a clock.
ΚΠ
1867 Sci. Amer. 6 July 13/2 65,941.—Forging Apparatus.—John Price, N. Y. City. 1st, I claim the combination with the hammer head of a rack spring and sliding catch, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
1892 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (ed. 8) 87 If the spring is weak and the rack spring strong, it sometimes gives a little.
1999 J. Greenlaw Longcase Clocks 12 The snail wheel rotates once every twelve hours, and the twelve different distances between its outer rim and the centre dictate how far the rack tail can be driven upwards by the rack spring.
rack stave n. now rare one of the upright staves of a rack (cf. sense 1).
ΚΠ
1382 in J. C. Tingey Rec. City of Norwich (1910) II. 47 (MED) [For nails and] rackestavis.
1587 L. Mascall Bk. Cattell: Sheep (1627) 202 Their racks to be made..with rack-staues set nigh together of a good length.
a1639 W. Whately Prototypes (1640) i. xvi. 166 Them that tie their horses to the rack-staves.
1704 Dict. Rusticum at Low-worm He will gnaw the Manger, Rack-Staves, or any thing within his reach.
1802 in C. R. Lounsbury Illustr. Gloss. Early Southern Archit. & Landscape (1994) 302 Rack staves 1/156 holes 6d.
1933 I. Wyatt Bk. of Huish in Notes & Queries (1936) 7 Mar. 167/2 Killed him with his own soldering iron which they were careful to replace in the smithy, leaving a blood-marked rack stave conspicuously near the corpse.
rack system n. a system involving a rack or racks (in various senses); (in later use) spec. a stereo system consisting of individual components mounted in a rack.
ΚΠ
1860 Prairie Farmer 15 Nov. 309/1 While on the rack system..he [sc. the horse] had to stand longer on his legs to grind with his teeth.
1895 Times 28 Nov. 3/1 With a rack system, the speed must necessarily be kept low in order to prevent..the mounting of the rack by the pinion on the engine.
1967 Coshocton (Ohio) Tribune 9 Apr. (caption) Part of the rack system used for storage of decorative laminates.
1978 News (Frederick, Maryland) 30 Aug. a6 (advt.) ‘Sharp’ rack system with features to please even the most discerning music lover.
2003 Guardian (Nexis) 17 May 78 At the very end of the 1970s, there was a sudden and widespread fashion for vertical, floor-standing ‘rack systems’.
† rack-table n. Mining Obsolete = sense 6b.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > equipment for treating ores > [noun] > for washing ore > for tin
rack1839
rack-table1839
tin-frame1881
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 1245 The slope of the rack-table for washing the roasted tin ore is 7¾ inches in the 9 feet.
1877 H. Watts Dict. Chem. (new ed.) V. 800 The ore thus calcined, oxidised, and lixiviated, is washed once more on the rack-table, and the lighter parts removed.
rack tail n. Clockmaking the tail of the gathering pallet which interacts with the rack hook to control the striking mechanism in a clock.
ΚΠ
1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 299/2 The pipe which acts on the stud is long enough to carry the rack-tail just clear of the snail when the rack is forced back by the spring.
1892 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (ed. 8) 87 Rack Tail.—A frequent source of trouble in some old clocks is the spring tail to the rack.
1977 E. Smith Clocks vi. 161 In adjusting the rack tail it must be ensured that the rack will fall sufficiently far for a full twelve teeth to be gathered.
† rack-tube n. Obsolete rare a microscope tube which is positioned by means of a rack.
ΚΠ
1867 J. Hogg Microscope (ed. 6) i. ii. 61 So adjusted that its reservoir may be close against the end of the rack-tube.
rack wheel n. a toothed wheel which engages with a rack; a pinion.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > wheel > [noun] > cog or gear
cog-wheel1416
main wheel1678
spur-wheel1731
rack wheel1772
spur gear1808
gear1829
gearing1833
spur gearing1844
pitch wheel1854
tooth-wheel1862
gear-wheel1874
maintaining wheel1874
cog1883
1772 C. White Treat. Managem. Pregnant & Lying-in Women vi. 172 (caption) Pinions of twelve teeth each entering between the teeth of the rack wheels.
1847 T. T. Stoddart Angler's Compan. 47 Whatever advantages the multiplier and rack-wheel may be esteemed to possess, these..are counter-balanced by the liability such adaptations incur to become disturbed in their action.
1939 Compl. Welder 295/2 It is possible to re-set the two pinions in relation to the racks by loosening the nut at one end of the spindle carrying the two rack wheels.
1986 U.S. Patent 4,569,230 6 A chain 64, whereof a first end is fixed to latch 46, is wound around a rack wheel 66 and then onto a pinion 68, whilst its other end is fixed to the actual unlocking system.
rackwork n. mechanical parts comprising or incorporating a rack for adjustment or positioning.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > mechanism > [noun] > other specific mechanisms
stop?1523
clockwork1652
sector1715
rackwork1755
scapement1789
scape1798
safety catch1827
controller1836
dog1840
Geneva stop1841
Maltese cross1852
throw-off1852
gearhead1869
tripper1870
Scotch yoke1880
Geneva movement1881
belt-tightener1882
watch1882
selector1890
Geneva wheel1891
throw-out1894
Geneva motion1897
horse-geara1899
Geneva mechanism1903
safety catch1904
Geneva drive1913
Geneva1919
Possum1961
1755 J. Smeaton Diary 17 June in Journey to Low Countries (1938) 4 The ebb gates had shuttles which draw by rack work as described by bellidor.
1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 300 The camera has double extension for focussing, the front moving by rackwork adjustment, the back by sliding in grooves, and held in position by clamping screws.
1986 New Phytologist 104 163 The upper muscle ligatures were attached to a set of Grass FT 0·3 force displacement transducers held in adjustable rackwork.
rack-yard n. now English regional (Lincolnshire) a stockyard provided with racks for fodder.
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the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping of cattle > [noun] > enclosing cattle > enclosure for cattle
rack-yard1765
lobby1778
wro1808
rodeo1811
lair1865
lairage1883
ox yard1885
cow-barton1888
cattle-camp1900
boosey close1922
1765 Museum Rusticum 3 288 Stable or rack-yard dung.
1773 Ann. Reg. 1772 120/2 Cows..in a house or rack yard.
1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Rack-yard, a fold-yard.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

rackn.5

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Forms: late Middle English rakke (rare), 1600s racke, 1700s– rack, 1900s– reck (U.S. regional), 1900s– rock (U.S. regional (southern)); Scottish pre-1700 rak, pre-1700 rakke, pre-1700 1700s– rack, 1800s rauk.
Origin: Apparently a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Partly also a borrowing from Dutch. Etymons: rake n.3; Dutch rak.
Etymology: Apparently originally a variant of rake n.3, with failure of lengthening in open syllables (for the frequency of this failure especially in Older Scots see A. J. Aitken & C. Macafee Older Scots Vowels (2002) §4.1 and perhaps compare rack n.2). In sense 1 (in U.S. regional (New York) use) also < Dutch rak stretch or reach of water (1602 in this sense) < rekken (see rech v.).Apparently attested earlier (in sense 1) in the place names Langrak' (1208; now Long Drax, North Yorkshire) and Langrakboth (1243; now Langrick Ferry, Lincolnshire); and perhaps also in Racheitha (1086; now Rackheath, Norfolk), although the sense here is uncertain.
1. Scottish (chiefly north-eastern), English regional (northern), and U.S. regional (New York). A stretch or reach of a river, esp. one used for salmon fishing. Cf. rake n.3
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > system > [noun] > reach
rack1358
reach1362
race1612
1358 in J. Stuart & G. Burnett Exchequer Rolls Scotl. (1878) I. 546 De piscaria del Rak super aquam de Dee.
1562 in J. Beveridge & G. Donaldson Reg. Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum (1957) V. i. 308/1 All and haill the salmond fishing upoun the Watter of Die callit the od half net in the rak.
1624 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Stirling (1887) I. 159 Casting of..grit stanes in that rak of the watter of Forthe nixt under the cruves of Craigorthe..to the grit hurt..of the tounes fishing.
1683 Retour in T. Thomson Inquisitionum (1811) I. Aberdeen §459 In piscaria unius retis salmonum piscium de lie rack et stellis.
1755 Session Papers in Sc. National Dict. (1968) VII. (at cited word) Temporary Encroachments were made upon the Burrow-meadow Rack, by Fishers in the Neighbouring Racks.
1832 J. F. Watson Hist. Tales N.Y. 27 The ‘Racks’ so called, along the [Hudson] river, were Dutch names for Reaches.
1838 T. Wilson Keelman's Tribute (Northumbld. Gloss.) The keelman's dues tiv iv'ry rack..knew Faddy.
1930 Amer. Speech 5 164 The Dutch navigators divided the Hudson into racks or reaches. The former word remains in Claverack.
1991 Canoeist Oct. 22 A series of deeper fast-flowing pools joined together by racks, which is a local Dulnain fishing term for the shallow, jumbled, bouldery flow between two pools.
2. A track or run regularly used by animals, esp. deer, as marked by gaps in hedges, etc.In quot. a1467: a regular pasturing ground (cf. rake n.3).
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the world > animals > animals hunted > trail > [noun]
feutea1375
treadc1400
fewea1425
racka1467
train1568
foiling1575
slot1575
trail1590
fuse1611
piste1696
spoor1823
sign1851
slotting1909
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > family Cervidae (deer) > [noun] > footprint or track
racka1467
ports and entries1575
slot1575
strain1612
a1467 J. Arblaster in Paston Lett. & Papers (2004) II. 326 John a Berney..hath of late rered a falde of colyette of vc sheep vpon myn rakke, and entendeth to disheryte me of myn liberte of myn faldage there.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Les passées d'un Cerf His racke, or passages; the places which he has gone through, or by.
1817 J. Mayer Sportsman's Direct. 23 Rabbits are taken in various ways... If they lie in hedge-rows..plant one or two guns at the end where the racks meet.
1862 C. P. Collyns Notes Chase Wild Red Deer 79 Can he find the ‘rack’ or place where the deer broke the fence into the wood?
1954 J. I. Lloyd Beagling 142 Meuse (or Rack), the hare's runway through a hedge.
1992 Alabama Game & Fish Feb. 480/1 Trails and rub lines are virtually the same, and racks may be along them or in the bedding area where the buck is resting.
3. gen. (chiefly English regional). A narrow path or track. Cf. rake n.3 2.
ΚΠ
a1500 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Trin. Dublin) 3383 The same kynd shuld a kyng of hys craft vse..Þat for no prayer ne preese ne plesaunce on erth, Oute of þe rakke [c1450 Ashm. rake] of rightwyssnes rynne shuld he neuer.
1825–46 J. T. Brockett Gloss. N. Country Words (ed. 3) II. 86 Rack, a narrow path, a track, a trace.
1835 Shrewsbury Chron. Times 9 Nov. There is a path (or ‘rack’, as the witnesses termed it) up the middle of the coppice and another ‘rack’ about half-way up, which runs along the side of the corn.
1899 H. T. Timmins Nooks & Corners Shropshire 65 We go down a rough footpath, or ‘rack’, as they call it here~abouts.
1919 T. Wright Romance of Lace Pillow xii. 110 What a relief..to be absolutely free for a few hours; to be able to..roam the ridings, racks, and glades of Yardley Chase.
1957 Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol.: Pt. II (Empire Forestry Assoc.) 149 Rack, (a) A narrow woodland track maintained for inspection and communication and for extraction of poles, etc. by hand or animal haulage.
1974 W. Leeds Herefordshire Speech Rack,..a narrow track.
4. Scottish. A crossing place, such as a ford in a river or a causeway in an estuary.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > route or way > other means of passage or access > [noun] > place where something may be crossed
ferry1286
passage?a1400
trajecta1552
crossing1632
trajection1637
pass1649
rack1659
crossing-place1763
river crossing1839
transit1852
1659 A. Hay Diary 29 Sept. (1901) 149 I left Mr Rot at Thankertoun rack.
1705 Trans. Dumfries & Galloway Nat. Hist. & Antiquarian Soc. 4 59 From the said miln to that rock in the rack opposite the heid of the Willies.
1802 in W. Scott Minstrelsy Sc. Border I. 127 They led him thro' the Liddel-rack, And also thro' the Carlisle sands.
1834 Lett. C. K. Sharpe (1888) II. 480 The breaks in the narrative, like the racks in the Nith and Annan, serve to make the current run quicker and look clearer.
1923 G. Watson Roxburghshire Word-bk. 245 Rack,..a shallow wide ford (especially one which lies slant-wise) in a river, etc., above a point where it narrows into a deep stream.
1963 in Sc. National Dict. (1968) Rack, a narrow, stony track exposed at low-tide [on the Solway], leading across mudflats to an island.
5. Scottish. Curling. = rink n.2 3. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > winter sports > curling > [noun] > area of ice
rack1784
rink1787
curling-rink1814
1784 in J. Cairnie Ess. Curling (1833) 133 The racks we sweep from tee to tee, Our crisps we set wi' care.
1793 J. Kerr in Curling (1890) 137 The players shall be divided by the office-bearers into racks.
1864 J. B. Greenshields Ann. Parish Lesmahagow 47 The Skippers both their choice must take Of ‘rank and tire’, ranged on the lake... They're quickly formed into a rack, Eight of a side.
1981 D. B. Smith Curling Illustr. Hist. xxii. 198/2 In some parts of Scotland rack signified both the team and the sheet of ice.
6. British & U.S. regional by rack of eye and variants: without accurate measurement, by eye.
ΚΠ
a1796 S. Pegge Two Coll. Derbicisms (1896) 117 To judge of the value of a thing by ‘the rack o' th' eye’, by view or sight, without weighing or measuring.
1853 E. Ridings Village Muse 6 Aw know by th' rack o' th' ee.
1865 W. S. Banks List Provinc. Words Wakefield 55 Ah could tell by t'rack o' my ee t'line wor'n't straight.
1913 A. Hardy Life & Adventures in Land of Mud 17 A skipper who knew next to nothing of navigation, but steered his craft by ‘the rack of the eye’.
1963 M. V. Brewington Chesapeake Bay Canoes 14 In the more poorly-built canoes of these regions, the eye alone is used in attaining the form; this is known colloquially as the ‘winchum-squinchum’ method, or ‘built by rack of eye’.
1987 J. Barth Tidewater Tales (1988) 31 Fritz established himself in time as a regionally famous builder of Chesapeake Bay workboats..and, toward the end of his career, small wooden cruising sailboats built ‘by rack of eye’, without full-scale laid-out plans.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

rackn.6

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Forms: 1500s–1600s racke, 1600s– rack, 1800s wrack.
Origin: Apparently formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: rack v.3
Etymology: Apparently < rack v.3
Horse Riding. Now chiefly North American.
A fast, four-beat gait in which both hooves on one side, the hind just before the front, are lifted before both those on the other side are set down, the hind also preceding the front, each contact with the ground being made at equal intervals. Cf. single-foot n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by speed or gait > [noun] > type(s) of gait > rack
racking1530
rack1566
racking pace1611
Canterbury rack1636
1566 T. Blundeville Bredynge of Horses ii. f. 6v, in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe Their [sc. Turkye Horses'] traueylinge pace is neyther Amble, Racke, nor Trotte, but a certayne kinde of easy trayne.
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice iv. i. 5 The broken or incertaine amble is..done in shart, quicke, and busie strides, a horse taking vp his feet both of one side so thicke and roundly together, that a mans eie cannot say, that his feet are downe before they bee vp againe, with many steps, & in a long time going but a litle way, which of some horsmen is called a traine, or racke.
1683 London Gaz. No. 1846/4 A full trust Nag, a good Trot, short Rack.
1735 Sportsman's Dict. II As to their Paces, which are these Trot, Rack, Amble, or Gallop, the which you must chuse, according as you design to put him to, either for Racing, Hunting, Travelling, or Fight.
1771 R. Berenger Hist. & Art Horsemanship I. 15 A vile and broken pace, answering to what the French call aubin, and we a rack.
1797 N.-Y. Mag. Dec. 654/1 Behold that knowing dog from Rumford..his horse shuffling along, dot and go one, or budging forward in that delightful rack, between trot and gallop.
1829 H. Murray Hist. Acct. Discoveries & Trav. N. Amer. II. iii. iv. 442 They abhor a trot, and instruct the animal only in a pace and a wrack.
1832 F. A. Kemble Rec. Girlhood III. 257 The Americans..like a horse to have a shambling sort of half-trot, half-canter, which they judiciously call a rack.
1893 E. Muybridge Descr. Zoopraxogr. 35 The rack is an ungraceful gait of the horse, and disagreeable to those who seek comfort in riding.
1948 W. Faulkner Intruder in Dust xi. 238 A horse with one gait: a hard-driving rack seven feet in the air like a bird.
1980 P. Churchill World Atlas Horses & Ponies 55 The American Saddle Horse's..slow gait (or singlefoot) is something of a broken lateral pace, each foot striking the ground individually, and the rack is similar but faster.
1986 T. McGuane To skin Cat (1989) 83 He broke the horse into the rack until he saw the brush irrigated by the runoff.
2000 J. Jahiel Compl. Idiot's Guide to Horseback Riding vi. 248 Five-gaited Saddlebreds are shown at the walk, trot, canter, slow gait, and rack.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

rackn.7

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Forms: 1500s–1600s racke, 1500s– rack.
Origin: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: rack n.4
Etymology: Origin uncertain; perhaps a specific sense of rack n.4Perhaps compare Old English hracca (also hrecca ), rendering classical Latin occiput ‘back of the head’ (see occiput n.) in a group of related early Old English glossaries, but probably ultimately reflecting a scribal error for hnecca neck n.1
1.
a. Cookery. A joint of meat consisting of several ribs (and formerly also the neck).Now used esp. of lamb.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > part or joint of animal > [noun] > neck
crag1469
neck1474
rack1570
throat-piece1611
neck-piecec1818
1570 J. Foxe Actes & Monumentes (rev. ed.) II. 1191/1 A brothe made with the forepart of a racke of Mutton.
1585 Good Huswife's Jewell ii. 1 You may boyle Chynes and racks of Veale in all points as this is.
1631 B. Jonson New Inne i. ii. 19 A poore quotidian rack o'mutton.
a1665 K. Digby Closet Opened (1669) 202 Cut a Rack of Mutton into tender Steaks.
1665 R. May Accomplisht Cook 167 To carbonado a Rack of Pork.
?1720 Accomplish'd Lady's Delight (ed. 11) 104 Take..a Rack of Lamb, being cut one Rib from another, and Parboil.
1729 P. Walkden Diary 27 Sept. (1866) (modernized text) 46 I bought a hough and rack of mutton, 1s. 8d.
1824 M. Randolph Virginia House-wife 46 Take the best end of a rack of veal, cut it [etc.].
1894 E. Œ. Somerville & ‘M. Ross’ Real Charlotte II. xvii. 27 Taking the butcher's knife,..[she] had proceeded to cut off the special portion of the ‘rack’ which she wished for.
1930 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 4 Apr. 6 b (advt.) Rack of lamb. Makes a delicious roast.
1964 J. Masters Trial at Monomoy iii. 101 Mary Tolley began to serve the main course, a rack of lamb.
1974 Observer 22 Sept. (Colour Suppl.) 60/3 (advt.) Fresh river trout followed by rack of highland lamb.
1997 Hunting Feb. 51/3 With new season lamb not far away, now is a good time to offer Sarah's recipe for racks covered with delicious herb and olive crust.
†b. Winchester College slang. A rib of mutton. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1870 R. B. Mansfield School Life Winchester Coll. 84 All these ‘Dispars’ had different names;..the ribs ‘Racks’.
1893 W. Tuckwell Anc. Ways Winchester 35 The saddles, legs, shoulders, supplied the higher tables; the juniors had the ‘racks’.
†2. = rack-bone n. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > spine > [noun] > vertebra of
spondylec1400
whirl-bonec1400
vertebre1578
rowel1586
rack1615
rack-bone1615
vertebra1615
verticle1658
segment1846
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 899 The marrow concluded within the rackes of the Holy-bone.
c1720 W. Gibson Farriers New Guide i. v. 74 Their Use is to bend the Racks of the Loins.
†3.
a. The bones of a dead horse. Cf. quot. 1804 at rack of bones n. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 181/2 The bones (called ‘racks’ by the knackers) are chopped up and boiled.
b. An emaciated horse. Cf. rack of bones n. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > body or parts of horse > [noun] > physical condition or types of > horse in poor condition > thin horse
tacky1800
weed1826
rack1878
hat rack1891
rack of bones1949
1878 Daily News 16 Sept. 3/1 Among the horses are some fine specimens of racks, that is fleshless horses.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

rackn.8

Forms: 1500s racke.
Apparently a compositorial error for reacke, variant of rick n.1 (see quot. 1553 at rick n.1 1aγ. for the original reading of quot. 1574).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > storage or preservation of crops > [noun] > stacking or ricking > stack or rick
moweOE
rickeOE
pease-ricka1325
stackc1330
tassc1330
rucka1382
hayrick14..
haystack14..
sedge reekc1440
hay-mow1483
hay-goaf1570
rack1574
hovel1591
scroo1604
mow-stack1611
sow1659
corn-rick1669
bean-rick1677
barley-mow1714
pea rick1766
rickle1768
bike1771
stacklet1796
bean-stack1828
1574 Withals Dict. 21/1 A ricke or racke of hay, strues. Extruo, to make up in rokes [sic] or rackes.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2020).

rackn.9

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Origin: A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: wrack n.1
Etymology: Variant of wrack n.1
1. Destruction. Chiefly in to go (etc.) to rack (and ruin): to fall into a state of total neglect, disrepair, or ruin.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [noun] > state of being destroyed or ruined
lossc897
losingc950
lore971
destructionc1330
forlesing1340
lostc1374
undoing1377
perditiona1382
shendc1400
decay1535
rack1599
undoneness1835
wanthrift1929
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (intransitive)] > be destroyed, ruined, or come to an end
losec888
fallOE
forlesea1225
perishc1275
spilla1300
to go to wreche13..
to go to the gatec1330
to go to lostc1374
miscarryc1387
quenchc1390
to bring unto, to fall into, to go, put, or work to wrakea1400
mischieve?a1400
tinea1400
to go to the devilc1405
bursta1450
untwindc1460
to make shipwreck1526
to go to (the) pot1531
to go to wreck (and ruin)a1547
wrake1570
wracka1586
to hop (also tip, pitch over, drop off, etc.) the perch1587
to lie in the dusta1591
mischief1598
to go (etc.) to rack (and ruin)1599
shipwreck1607
suffera1616
unravel1643
to fall off1684
tip (over) the perch1699
to do away with1769
to go to the dickens1833
collapse1838
to come (also go) a mucker1851
mucker1862
to go up1864
to go to squash1889
to go (to) stramash1910
to go for a burton1941
to meet one's Makera1978
1599 in T. Fowler Hist. Corpus Christi Coll. (1893) 349 In the mean season the College shall goe to rack and ruin.
a1609 L. Andrewes Serm. (1841) II. 249 Between Jehu and Jeroboam Solomon's seed went to rack.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xi. 821 A World devote to universal rack . View more context for this quotation
1706 Disc. on Land-bank ii. ii. 52 Cottages tumbling down, and every thing running to rack and ruin.
1782 E. Blower George Bateman II. 126 Everything would soon go to sixes and sevens, and rack and ruin.
1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xx. 190 I can't renounce my own son..I couldn't do it; so we must go to rack and ruin, Kate, my dear.
1859 G. Meredith Ordeal Richard Feverel III. vii. 188 If the world's not coming to rack.
1874 F. C. Burnand My Time xxxiii. 346 His academicals..run to..utter rack and ruin.
1904 J. London Sea-wolf xvii. 165 In spite of rack and ruin a rough order obtained.
1938 L. MacNeice Earth Compels 40 The garden is going to rack, the gardener Only comes three days.
1991 D. Dabydeen Intended (1992) 234 The whole business is going to rack and ruin.
†2. A crash as of something breaking. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > degree, kind, or quality of sound > sudden or violent sound > [noun] > of impact or concussion > crash, clash, or smash
rackc1300
crushc1330
crashingc1440
rasha1450
reela1450
frush1487
clasha1522
crash1574
clush-clash1582
crush-crash1582
rouncival1582
clashing1619
rack1671
smash1808
1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iv. 449 I heard the rack As Earth and Skie would mingle. View more context for this quotation
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

rackn.10

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Forms: 1600s raack, 1600s racke, 1600s– rack.
Origin: A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: arrack n.
Etymology: Aphetic < arrack n.
Now rare.
= arrack n.fool rack: see fool rack n..
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > other distilled liquor > [noun] > liquor from palm sap
rack1602
arrack1625
fool rack1698
tuba1704
vino1901
1602 Voy. East-India in S. Purchas Pilgrimes (1625) I. i. iii. iii. 154 The King..dranke oft to the Generall in their Wine, which they call Racke.
1663 R. Boyle Some Considerations Usefulnesse Exper. Nat. Philos. ii. ii. 105 This rack..is often drunk in hot weather.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 57 Five or six Gallons of Rack.
1773 Encycl. Brit. III. 525/1 Rack, a spirituous liquor made by the Tartars of Tongusia. This kind of rack is made of mare's milk, which is left to be sour [etc.].
1795 J. Dalrymple Let. to Admiralty 11 Their common beverage, water, and rack bad and new.
1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) vi. 51 What is the rack in the punch, at night, to the rack in the head of a morning?
1871 M. Collins Marquis & Merchant I. ix. 291 Rooker took..a glass of ‘rack’.
1935 Bull. School Oriental Stud. 8 102 There is considerable confusion in the use of the word Arrack, Rack... It is undoubtedly much used to denote the spirit distilled from the exudation of the date-palm, which, however, should properly be called toddy.

Compounds

General attributive.
† rack-house n. Obsolete
ΚΠ
1606 E. Scot Java in S. Purchas Pilgrimes (1625) i. iii. iv. 184 We..draue them into a Racke-house. [Margin Racke house, where hot drinkes are sold.]
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

rackn.11

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Origin: A variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: wrack n.2
Etymology: Variant of wrack n.2
1. Anything that is washed up by the sea on to the shore. Later usually: seaweed.Now chiefly in compounds (see Compounds 1).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > refuse or rubbish > [noun] > cast up by sea or flood
wrack1428
water-wrack1605
rack1655
ejectments1658
wrack-goods1671
rejectamenta1791
rejection1838
1655 Bp. J. Richardson Observ. Old Test.: Exod. 11 Calling it the sea of weeds, or sedge,..of flag, or rush, tange, rack or reet, in Latin, alga,..which reddish weeds in abundance grew in it.
1882 ‘Ouida’ In Maremma I. 102 Well, go, rake some seaweed together or any other rack of your precious sea that one can burn.
1994 NPR: Morning Edition (transcript of radio programme) (Nexis) 5 Sept. The rack is the pile of seaweed and shells that collect on the beach at the high tide mark.
2003 Providence (Rhode Island) Jrnl.-Bull. (Nexis) 21 May a2 The oil is accumulated in the rack in the dumps of seaweed. There are invertebrates that depend on that rack for cover.
†2. A wrecked ship. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > [noun] > wrecked vessel
wrackc1386
wreck?a1500
carcass1600
racka1658
silver wreck1700
a1658 J. Cleveland Wks. (1687) 365 Ten thousand Racks, Cast on the Shore of the Red Sea.

Compounds

C1. General attributive.
rack kelp n.
ΚΠ
1989 P. Genega Striking Water 6 I probably even smell like kelp, like a pungent strand of rack kelp studded with black flies.
rack pudding n.
ΚΠ
1921 Glasgow Herald 3 Jan. 6/8 At one time the latter town was famed for growing excellent syboes, from which the further allegation comes that the people of Girvan live on syboes and rack pudding, rack being seaweed.
C2.
rack-heap n. U.S. a heap of wreckage, driftwood, etc.; also in extended use.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > [noun] > old or useless vessel
hull1582
coffin1833
ballyhoo1836
old lady1841
rack-heap1850
wreck1896
crock1903
rust bucket1944
the world > the earth > water > body of water > channel of water > [noun] > obstruction in > specific
planter1802
snag1807
rack-heap1850
tacouba1870
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > breaking or cracking > [noun] > demolition > a ruin or wreck
fallinga1382
wracka1586
wrakea1627
land-wracka1657
wreck1814
rack-heap1850
wreckage1874
crack-up1926
1850 J. Gallaher Western Sketch-bk. 149 Such a wretched rackheap of dry bones as you.
1851 West. Jrnl. Agric. Sept. 377 But everywhere in the sand and soil are embedded logs and rack-heaps,..which as effectually obstruct and change the river-current, as rocks would.
1889 P. Butler Personal Recoll. vii. 72 There were in the river heaps of drift-wood, called ‘rack-heaps’, dangerous places into which the water rushed with great violence.
1909 ‘M. Twain’ Is Shakespeare Dead? i. 18 When the Pennsylvania blew up and became a drifting rack-heap freighted with wounded and dying.
1958 W. F. McCulloch Woods Words 145 Rackheap, a. A piled-up drift or heap of logs and trees in a river. b. Sometimes applied to a heap of logs piled up ready to be splashed down a river.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

† rackn.12

Origin: Of unknown origin.
Etymology: Origin unknown.
Obsolete. rare.
The skin of a young rabbit.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > skin or hide > [noun] > skins of other animals
bear-hide?c1225
russwale1336
roan skin1446
rabbit skin1760
zebra skin1774
kangaroo-skin1777
rack1805
alligator1877
ocelot1903
crocodile1907
1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 1204 There is annually a great loss in what are termed half skins, quarter skins, and racks, sixteen of which are only allowed for as one whole skin.
1878 R. Hunt & F. W. Rudler Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 7) IV. Suppl. 380 The rabbit skins are..sorted into four kinds,..racks, or young rabbits about two months old, which have not lost their first coat.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2018).

rackv.1

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Forms:

α. late Middle English rakk (in a late copy), late Middle English rakke, late Middle English rekke, 1500s–1600s ract (past participle), 1500s–1700s racke, 1500s– rack; Scottish pre-1700 1700s– rack, pre-1700 (1900s– Orkney) rak, 1800s rauck, 1800s rauk.

β. 1500s– wrack, 1700s wreck.

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion; perhaps partly modelled on a Dutch lexical item, and partly modelled on a Middle Low German lexical item. Etymon: rack n.3
Etymology: < rack n.3, perhaps subsequently reinforced and influenced in sense by association with Middle Dutch recken, rekken (Dutch rekken ), Middle Low German recken (see rech v. and discussion at that entry) or with reach v.1 (compare γ. forms at that entry). Compare earlier rack n.4 With sense 4 compare earlier rack n.3 3, and also later rack rent n., rack-rent v.The β. forms perhaps result from association with wreck v.1, wrack v.2 Kiliaan (1588) records an early modern Dutch verb †racken ‘to twist, to stretch, to extract (a confession) by torture’, which he labels as ‘old’; however, this is not recorded elsewhere in this sense ( Woordenboek der nederlandsche taal at rakken v.3 only cites a similar form as an isolated attestation c1565, in uncertain sense and apparently of different origin), and is almost certainly Kiliaan's adaptation of the English verb (which he compares). N.E.D. (1903) also compares German racken to vex, torture, but this is first attested later (17th cent.; rare); it is probably a variant of German recken rech v., and probably does not have any direct connection with Middle Low German racken to sweep together (dirt, excrement), to clean (latrines), to flay (animals) ( < rāken rake v.2, with expressive gemination and shortening of the vowel).
1.
a. transitive. To stretch, pull out, increase the length of. Now rare.Originally used with reference to cloth (see rack n.3 1), later extended to other material and immaterial things.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile manufacture > manufacture textile fabric or that which consists of > manufacture of textile fabric > treating or processing textile fabric > treat or process textile fabric [verb (transitive)] > stretch
rack1435
beam1605
the world > space > extension in space > expansion or enlargement > expand or enlarge [verb (transitive)] > distend > stretch
reamc1275
stretch1398
rack1565
reach1648
1435 Coventry Leet Bk. 172 No walker off the Cite of Couentre..Shall Rakke no Clothe on the Tey[n]tur that schall be solde ffor wette-clothe.
1439 in F. B. Bickley Little Red Bk. Bristol (1900) II. 173 (MED) We..have ordeyned..that every maister of the seid Crafte of Dyers, when he hath dyed eny cloth and after such dyeng is putte to the towker to be rekked, that the iiij Maisters of dyers..may oversee al the defautes of every such clothe.
a1525 Coventry Leet Bk. 172 No walker off the Cite of Couentre ne non oder man Shall Rakke no Clothe on the Tey[n]tur thatschall be solde ffor wette-clothe.
1565 J. Jewel Def. Apol. Churche Eng. (1611) 302 Heere perhaps yee will set Faith vpon the Last, and racke her to a larger sise.
1594 G. Chapman Σκìα Νυκτòς sig. Div Something before sunneset, when shadows bee Rackt with his stooping.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage i. x. 48 The Chaldæan Kalendar, which yet they racke higher to foure hundred three-score and tenne thousand yeres.
1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. xiv. 102 He gives them their true dimensions, not racking them for one, and shrinking them for another.
1756 T. Birch Hist. Royal Soc. I. 62 The next work is racking or tentering the cloth, which is no more than making the cloth (which becomes uneven in the milling) to be all of one breadth, strait and smooth.
1798 D. Crawford Poems 42 Stap out to Tweeddale braes, An' rack your leather.
1886 J. Barrowman Gloss. Sc. Mining Terms 53 To Rack, to stretch.
1916 G. Blaik Rustic Rhymes 20 Nae wonder the pooch at the corners was racket, When sae mony nick-nacks oot o'sicht in't were packet.
1983 Policy Rev. (Heritage Foundation, U.S.) Summer 84/1 (note) Procrustes was a legendary Greek innkeeper. He provided only one bed but accommodated all comers by racking out the short and cutting down the tall.
b. intransitive. To undergo stretching, strain, shaking, or dislocation. Chiefly Scottish in early use. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > misshapenness > lose shape or become misshapen [verb (intransitive)] > due to stretch or strain
rack?1507
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > oscillation > vibration > vibrate [verb (intransitive)] > shake > undergo shaking
to-resea1225
rack1695
?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 50 I gert the renȝeis rak and rif in to sondir.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) I. 124 Sum gat ane rais gart all hir ribbis rak.
1695 R. Blackmore Prince Arthur iii. 66 The Earth's grip'd Bowels with Convulsions rack.
1721 J. Perry Acct. Stopping Daggenham Breach 12 The weight of Earth..usually subjects them [sc. Sluices] to rack and settle down at the Foundation.
1776 G. Semple Treat. Building in Water 101 Splicing the long Sides of the Belts, so as they may not wreck in dropping them down.
1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. (at cited word) He has a conscience that will rack like raw plaiding.
1890 J. Service Thir Notandums 125 Lang or they win this length..their chafts are like to rack wi' the gantin'.
1930 W. Faulkner As I lay Dying 188 If this team dont rack to pieces.
c. transitive. To pull or tear apart, separate by force, break up. Also in extended use. Also figurative. Now chiefly U.S. with apart, up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > tearing or tearing apart > tear [verb (transitive)] > tear apart
to-loukc890
to-braidc893
to-tearc893
to-teec893
to-rendc950
to-breakc1200
to-tugc1220
to-lima1225
rivea1250
to-drawa1250
to-tosea1250
drawa1300
rendc1300
to-rit13..
to-rivec1300
to-tusec1300
rakea1325
renta1325
to-pullc1330
to-tightc1330
tirec1374
halea1398
lacerate?a1425
to-renta1425
yryve1426
raga1450
to pull to (or in) piecesc1450
ravec1450
discerp1483
pluck1526
rip1530
decerp1531
rift1534
dilaniate1535
rochec1540
rack1549
teasea1550
berend1577
distract1585
ream1587
distrain1590
unrive1592
unseam1592
outrive1598
divulse1602
dilacerate1604
harrow1604
tatter1608
mammocka1616
uprentc1620
divell1628
divellicate1638
seam-rend1647
proscind1659
skail1768
screeda1785
spret1832
to tear to shreds1837
ribbon1897
1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. Ephes. iv. f. viii No more than we see the membres of the body not agre or to be racked one from an other because thei be not indifferently apte al to one vse.
a1550 (c1425) Andrew of Wyntoun Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Wemyss) xxxviii. 374 And with a rug thai rapis all He rakkit [Royal a1530 (c1425) crakyde] in to pecis small.
1564 T. Becon New Catech. in Wks. 327 b They..racke that one tente commaundement into two for to supply the nomber.
1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 6 Some thinke the putride backe-bone in the graue rack'd..the shape of Snakes to take.
1800 M. Edgeworth Castle Rackrent 125 This window is all racked and tattered.
1848 A. B. Evans Leicestershire Words Rack and Rack up, to break up. ‘Why didn't ye get at it, and rack it up.’
1909 N.Y. Times 17 Oct. 9/7 A sledge fastened with nails would soon be racked apart by the rolling and jarring.
1938 News (Frederick, Maryland) 5 Mar. 3/2 If I had to be near her every day I was going to be racked apart.
1970 J. Bouton Ball Four vi. 276 Another infielder got racked up during the game. Ron Clark collided with George Scott of the Red Sox and had thirteen stitches taken in his lip.
1990 S. King Stand (new ed.) iii. lxxv. 1128 His bad leg ached abominably. Be lucky if I haven't racked it up for good , he thought.
1995 A. Rich Dark Fields of Republic 52 So we are thrown together so we are racked apart.
d. transitive. To shake (something, esp. a person's body) violently; to injure or damage in this way; spec. to exert stress on or distort (the side of a ship). Also: to inflict damage on (a ship) by broadside gunfire (opposed to rake v.2 10a) (now historical).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > injury > injure [verb (transitive)] > shake or strain
rack1757
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > alternating or reciprocating motion > oscillation > vibration > vibrate [verb (transitive)] > shake > shake violently
concuss1603
conquassate1656
ebrangle1693
rack1757
1757 T. Smollett Reprisal i. i To be racked with perpetual puking.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxviii. 93 A dreadful cough, which seemed to rack his whole shattered system.
1865 A. L. Holley Treat. Ordnance & Armor 134 To waste no power in racking the whole side of the ship.
1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets vii. 194 The Erinnyes leap upon the palace of Atreus, and rack it like a tempest.
1889 J. J. Welch Text Bk. Naval Archit. 158 When the ship reaches her maximum inclination on the opposite side, the section is racked as before, but in the contrary direction.
1942 H. J. Pursey Merchant Ship Constr. i. 28 A ship may be ‘racked’ by wave action, or by rolling in a seaway.
1946 Forfar Dispatch 18 Apr. But fin she heard that Jezebel had fa'n and rackit her back, she set me oot tae help her.
1980 S. Trott When your Lover Leaves (1981) 184 I cried so hard that the sobs racked my body into movement.
2002 Independent 1 May i. 11/1 He was taken to the notorious third floor, beaten, then racked with electric shocks to make him reveal names.
2.
a. transitive. To stretch the joints of (a person or a part of the body) as a punishment or a form of torture, usually by means of a special apparatus (see rack n.3 2b). Now chiefly archaic and historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > punishment > torture > [verb (transitive)] > on the rack
spread?c1225
fordrawc1380
enginec1405
rack?a1439
stentc1480
streekc1480
draw1481
brake1530
excarnificate1570
excruciate1570
stretch1585
to break on the torture1598
distend1599
tenter1615
tousea1616
tympanize1647
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) vi. 651 (MED) Scipioun..fro my wheel was sodenli cast doun..Bi ther hangman first cheynid in prisoun, Afftir rakked.
a1450 (c1435) J. Lydgate Life SS. Edmund & Fremund (Harl.) 277 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 401 Worthi to been enhangid bi the hals Or to be rakkid with a broke chyne.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. AAAiii Some drowned,..some racked, some hanged on a gybet.
1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil First Foure Bookes Æneis iii. 46 You rack no forrener owtcast, You rent a Troian.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. x. 467 This they did..to make me beleeue I was going to be rackt againe.
1675 T. Brooks Golden Key 117 His Legs and Hands were violently racked and pulled out to the places fitted for his fastenings.
1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 437 The Pirates exercis'd the most barbarous Cruelty, racking them inhumanly.
1829 W. Scott Lett. Demonol. viii. 275 Their mouths were stopped, their throats choked, their limbs racked.
1891 S. J. Weyman Story Francis Cludde xix. 341 You might rack me and you would not get it from me!
1960 J. Barth Sot-weed Factor i. viii. 73 And make her my whore I will not—nay, not were I racked for't.
1997 J. Cannon Oxf. Compan. Brit. Hist. 342 In March she was sent to the Tower while the conspirators were racked to provide evidence against her.
b. transitive. Usually of a disease: to cause extreme pain to (a person or a part of the body). Also occasionally intransitive of a person or part of the body: to be tormented by pain or disease.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > types of pain > affect with type of pain [verb (transitive)] > affect with anguish or torment
tintreghec1175
torment1297
raimc1300
pinse?c1335
grindc1350
sowa1352
pang1520
rack1562
torture1598
throea1616
pincer1620
excruciate1623
thumbscrew1771
1562 W. Bullein Bk. Simples sig. k iii. v, in Bulwarke of Defence Them whom either the Pox hath tormented, or else the Goute hath torne or racked wyth intolerable grief.
1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike Ded. sig. ¶2v Which..did yet so racke my raunging head, and bring low my crased body.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 370 Ile racke thee with old Crampes, Fill all thy bones with Aches. View more context for this quotation
1674 Abp. Leighton in O. Airy Lauderdale Papers. (1885) III. xlvi. 76 I keep not bedd much, nor am..rack't with sharp and tormenting diseases.
1737 A. Pope Epist. of Horace i. vi. 9 Rack'd with Sciatics, martyr'd with the Stone.
1747 T. Gray Ode Eton Coll. 7 This racks the Joints, this fires the Veins.
1820 M. Edgeworth Let. 15 Nov. in M. Edgeworth in France & Switzerland (1979) 277 I was on my back on my bed racking with pain.
a1859 T. B. Macaulay Biogr. (1867) 138 A cruel malady racked his joints.
1892 Dict. National Biogr. XXXII. 271/1 He was..racked by neuralgia, and he found himself half-blind.
1953 M. Traynor Eng. Dial. Donegal 224/2 Rack,..to throb with pain. My head's rackin'.
1967 W. Styron Confessions Nat Turner ii. 168 For days and nights I was racked by an aching fever.
1988 M. Warner Lost Father xvi. 168 Headaches rack me.
c. transitive. To inflict mental pain or torture on (a person); to torment (the mind, soul, etc.). Now usually in passive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > cause of mental anguish or torment > cause anguish to or torment [verb (transitive)]
quelmeOE
eatc1000
martyrOE
fretc1175
woundc1175
to-fret?c1225
gnawc1230
to-traya1250
torment1297
renda1333
anguish1340
grindc1350
wringc1374
debreakc1384
ofpinec1390
rivea1400
urn1488
reboil1528
whip1530
cruciate1532
pinch1548
spur-galla1555
agonize1570
rack1576
cut1582
excruciate1590
scorchc1595
discruciate1596
butcher1597
split1597
torture1598
lacerate1600
harrow1603
hell1614
to eat upa1616
arrow1628
martyrize1652
percruciate1656
tear1666
crucify1702
flay1782
wrench1798
kill1800
to cut up1843
1576 A. Fleming tr. Cicero in Panoplie Epist. 94 You are wont sometimes, to be in subiection to vehement passions, and to shewe your selfe racked with wonderfull carefulnesse.
1602 2nd Pt. Returne fr. Parnassus iv. ii. 1747 Till with my verses I haue rackt his soule.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 216 How haue the houres rack'd, and tortur'd me, Since I haue lost thee? View more context for this quotation
1647 A. Cowley Dialogue in Mistress vii The Sin Will rack and torture us within.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 98. ⁋3 How must she be racked with Jealousy.
1786 R. Burns Poems 22 Let..crabbed names an' stories wrack us, An' grate our lug.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice III. x. vii. 225 I regret no more the falsehood that so racked me for the time.
1895 Parkhurst in Advance (Chicago) 7 Mar. 808/2 Sin..wracks the machinery of the mind.
1933 W. de la Mare Fleeting & Other Poems 109 Racked with hatred and shame.
1968 B. England Figures in Landscape 8 He was racked by a terrible sense of having committed himself beyond his capacity.
1990 J. Sutherland Mrs Humphry Ward vi. 63 At Oxford..there were any number of dons privately racked with doubt about the faith to which for professional reasons they subscribed.
†d. transitive. To examine searchingly, as if by the use of torture. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 126 There is nothing so holy in workes, but..must needes be unsavorie in the sight of God, if without Christ it bee racked with exact scrutyne of Gods severe Judgement.
1593 J. Eliot Ortho-epia Gallica xx. 135 Consider wisely the chaunses of hasard: one must neuer prosecute them to their period: for it behooueth all Caualiers, reuerently to entreat their good fortune, without racking or tormenting it at all.
e. transitive. Of an event, etc.: to afflict (esp. a country) with suffering, damage, turmoil, or disruption.
ΚΠ
1775 W. Bolts Considerations India Affairs III. 208 I found the greatest part of the country racked, and considerable tracks wholly depopulated.
1835 E. Bulwer-Lytton Rienzi I. i. ix. 131 The winds and storms..torture and rack the sea.
1875 H. J. S. Maine Lect. Early Hist. Inst. vi. 183 Their country was racked with perpetual disturbance.
1937 W. Lippmann Good Society i. ii. 21 Intensified domestic struggle..has racked all nations and reduced some to a condition where there are assassination, massacre, persecution.
1956 W. S. Churchill Hist. Eng.-speaking Peoples II. iv. vi. 68 Succeeding generations worked together for the greatness of England while France and Germany were racked with internal strife.
1995 High Country News 13 Nov. 9/1 It mirrors the contentiousness racking public-lands forestry.
3.
a. transitive. To strain or twist the meaning of, give a forced interpretation to, (a word, phrase, or passage of writing).In some quots. with allusion to sense 2.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > misinterpretation > distortion or perversion of meaning > pervert or distort [verb (transitive)]
crooka1340
deprave1382
pervertc1390
strainc1449
drawc1450
miswrest?a1475
bewrya1522
wry?1521
to make a Welshman's hose ofa1529
writhea1533
wrest1533
invert1534
wring?1541
depravate1548
rack1548
violent1549
wrench1549
train1551
wreathe1556
throw1558
detorta1575
shuffle1589
wriggle1593
distortc1595
to put, set, place, etc. on the rack1599
twine1600
wire-draw1610
monstrify1617
screw1628
corrupt1630
gloss1638
torture1648
force1662
vex1678
refract1700
warp1717
to put a force upon1729
twist1821
ply1988
1548 H. Latimer Notable Serm. sig. A.iiv This is one of the places yt hath ben racked, as I toulde you of rackyng scriptures.
1599 F. Thynne Animaduersions (1875) 42 How you may seme to force and racke the worde to Chaucers meaninge, I knowe not.
a1631 J. Donne Βιαθανατος (1647) iii. iv. §2 The Donatists..racked and detorted thus much from this place, That [etc.].
1645 T. Fuller Good Thoughts in Bad Times ii. i. 69 Grant that I may never rack a Scripture Simile, beyond the true intent thereof.
1683 W. Cave Ecclesiastici 33 The Church rather expounds the Opinion..into a favourable sence, than nicely weighs and wracks their words.
1710 ‘J. Touchwood’ Quixote Redivivus 4 He racks a Text to make it confess a meaning it never dream'd of.
a1770 T. Chatterton Compl. Wks. (1971) I. 414 How are your feeble Arguments perplext To find out meaning in a senseless text You rack each Metaphor upon the Wheel.
1969 PMLA 84 252 The critics..have racked the text with cunning cruelty, seeking an answer... But the play offers no solution.
1989 New Lit. Hist. 20 601 Although this methodological a priori can help the reader respect the text and discover its hidden articulations, it also risks becoming the Procrustean bed on which the text is racked.
†b. transitive. To distort the application of (a law, justice, etc.). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > jurisprudence > jurisprudence [verb (transitive)] > strain the law
rack1557
extort1681
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. Q.ii If right be rackt, and ouerronne: And power take part with open wrong.
1580 J. Lyly Euphues & his Eng. (new ed.) f. 119 Not racking the Lawes to extremitie, but mittigating the rigour with mercy.
1607 J. Davies Summa Totalis sig. I4v So, God doth iudge, and neuer Iustice Rack.
1682 S. Pordage Medal Revers'd sig. D2v These rack the Laws, and holy Scriptures too, And fain would make all the old Treasons new.
†c. transitive. To increase (a sum, demand, etc.) by an excessive amount. Cf. sense 4. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > quantity > increase in quantity, amount, or degree > [verb (transitive)] > increase excessively
rack1576
1576 A. Fleming tr. Cicero in Panoplie Epist. 18 But with what lyes and false rumors haue light headed men ouerburthened you, that the expences are not onely inhaunced and racked, but also redemaunded & take away.
1600 W. Shakespeare Merchant of Venice i. i. 181 My credite..shall be rackt euen to the vttermost. View more context for this quotation
1603 J. Florio tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. iii. xii. 632 Striving about my ransome, which they racked so high [etc.].
1618 G. Chapman tr. Hesiod Georgicks ii. 22 Hasten thy labours, that thy crowned fields, May load themselues to thee, and rack their yeelds.
1668 F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue II. v. 44 They..are guided by the dictates of their insatiate wills, which is their Law, which poor Prisoners must indulge, (though they rack their slender credits, or pawn their cloaths).
d. transitive. to rack one's brain (also brains, wit, memory, etc.): to make a great effort to think of or remember something.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > thought > think [verb (intransitive)] > hard
to burst one's brainc1385
to break one's mind (heart)a1450
to break one's brain, mind, wind1530
to beat the brains1579
to rack one's brain (also brains, wit, memory, etc.)1583
hammer1598
beat1604
to cudgel one's brains1604
to bother one's brains (also brain)1755
1583 W. Byrd in E. Farr Sel. Poetry Reign Elizabeth (1845) I. 224 Racke not thy wit to winne by wicked waies.
c1680 W. Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 193 They rack their brains..they hazard their lives for it.
1713 R. Steele Guardian No. 47. ⁋7 She racked her invention to no purpose.
1768 F. Burney Early Jrnls. & Lett. (1988) I. 6 I have rack'd my brains half an Hour—in vain.
1831 Society 1 216 Fanny was racking her brains for something to say.
1880 L. Stephen Alexander Pope iv. 82 Racking his wits to contrive exquisite compliments.
1940 D. Hardy tr. A. Koestler Darkness at Noon iii. iii. 189 He racked his memory, but could not place anywhere this apparition.
1990 Stud. Eng. Lit.: Eng. Number (Tokyo) 24 The English court racked its brains over the questions of guests and dates of performance.
†e. transitive. To constrain (a person) to an action or feeling. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > obedience > compulsion > compel [verb (transitive)] > to do something
holdc1275
piltc1275
constraina1340
strength1340
distrainc1374
compelc1380
makec1395
distressa1400
stressa1400
art?1406
putc1450
coerce1475
cohert1475
enforce1509
perforce1509
forcec1540
violent?1551
press1600
necessitate1601
rack1602
restrain1621
reduce1622
oblige1632
necessiate1709
1602 J. Marston Antonios Reuenge v. iii. sig. I3 The court is rackt to pleasure, each man straines To faine a iocund eye.
4. Senses relating to rack rent n., rack-rent v. Now archaic and historical.
†a. transitive. To charge an excessive rent for (land). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > hire or rent > rent (land or real property) > [verb (transitive)] > charge (one) rent > excessive > for (land)
rack1550
1550 T. Becon Fortresse of Faythfull sig. E.iiiv If they bye any tenement, & let it out againe to the pore man, O how do they racke it, and stretche out the rentes therof.
1581 B. Rich Farewell Militarie Profession Ep. Ded. sig. Biii Landes be so racked at suche a rate.
1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer vii. 751 Yet stand their Farmes already rackt so high, That they have begger'd halfe their Tenantry.
1652 R. Brome Joviall Crew i. sig. B2v What Acre of your thousands have you rack'd?
1766 Museum Rusticum 6 145 Open fields may be as high racked as inclosures.
1786 R. Cumberland Observer II. xlvi. 161 He [sc. a landowner desperate for money]..racks his farms, Annuitizes, fines, renews.
b. transitive. To raise (rent) above a fair or acceptable amount. Also with up.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > hire or rent > rent (land or real property) > [verb (transitive)] > charge (one) rent > excessive > raise rent excessively
rack1553
1553 Prymmer or Bk. Priuate Prayer sig. P.vv That they [sc. landlordes]..may not racke and stretche oute ye rentes of their houses and landes.
c1572 G. Gascoigne Posies in Wks. (1907) I. 73 Our landlordes a zore man: He racketh up our rentes.
1598 Bp. J. Hall Virgidemiarum: 3 Last Bks. iv. ii. 20 They racke their rents vnto a treble rate.
1634 R. Sanderson Serm. II. 294 Racking their rents, taking in their commons, overthrowing their tenures, [etc.].
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Job xxxi. 39 If I have caused..the poor Rent-holders (by racking their rents) to misse of a subsistence.
1721 J. Strype Eccl. Memorials II. ii. xiv. 353 Landlords had now so wracked their rents.
1777 T. Campbell Philos. Surv. S. Ireland xxxii. 311 Racked the rents to a pitch above the reach of the old tenant.
1826 Q. Rev. 34 214 He racked no rents to maintain the expenses of his establishment.
1958 C. Hill Puritanism & Revol. i. ii. 41 The new purchasers shortened leases, racked rents, and evicted tenants.
1993 F. Delaney Walk to Western Isles 175 Sir Alexander's reputation for racking up his tenants' rents unfairly and harshly.
1993 F. Delaney Walk to Western Isles 183 The Laird..had never racked his rents and as a consequence..not a man has left his estate.
c. transitive. To oppress (a person) by illegal or excessive demands, esp. by charging an extortionate rent; to stretch (a person's means). Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > extortion > practise extortion on [verb (transitive)]
ransom?a1425
to poll and pill1528
exact1534
bloodsuck?1541
extort1561
rack1576
flay1584
shave1606
wire-draw1616
punisha1626
sponge1631
squeeze1639
screwa1643
to screw up1655
bleed1680
torture1687
to screw down1725
to shake down1872
to squeeze (someone) until the pips squeak1918
to bleed white1935
rent1956
society > trade and finance > fees and taxes > impost, due, or tax > tax > taxation > levy (a tax) [verb (transitive)] > tax (a person or thing) > burden or oppress with taxes
charge1330
scat1481
overtax1607
screwa1643
to shoot‥through and through1690
rack1862
1576 A. Fleming tr. M. Brutus in Panoplie Epist. 261 Euen such as they deserue, who by compulsorie meanes, or rather, by violent extortion, being racked, pay that which they cannot keepe.
1583 P. Stubbes Anat. Abuses sig. 3.viii (note) Land-Lords racke their tenantes.
1599 T. Heywood 1st Pt. King Edward IV sig. Iv O good Sir Humphrey do not racke my purse.
1616 J. Smith Descr. New Eng. 13 Here are no hard Landlords to racke vs with high rents.
1704 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion III. x. 55 The declared Delinquents [were] racked to as high compositions.
1791 ‘T. Newte’ Prospects & Observ. Tour 124 The same increase of luxury which would induce the landlord to rack his tenant [etc.].
1862 J. A. St. John Four Conq. Eng. II. 303 Racking the people with impost, and collecting treasure from all parts.
1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect Long Life II. 315 Implying that tenants were to be racked to the utmost.
1960 G. W. Potter To Golden Door i. viii. 41 The farmer who sublet from..the proprietor often in turn sublet portions of his holdings, and as he was racked from above, so he racked the even smaller man below him.
†d. intransitive. To charge extortionate rents. Also: to practise extortion. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1579 E. Hake Newes out of Powles Churchyarde newly Renued vi. sig. E.viiiv They racking stretch their liuing so: such wooluish wayes they frame.
1597 Bp. J. King Lect. Ionas v. 61 Do you not plant, build, purchase, add house to house, ioine field to field, put to use, grinde, eate, teare, racke, extort to the vttermost?
1603 H. Crosse Vertues Common-wealth sig. H3v It is neither right, nor honest, to racke, extort, and purloyne from other.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) v. i. 16 A paire of Tribunes, that haue wrack'd for Rome, To make Coales cheape. View more context for this quotation
1774 Westminster Mag. Nov. 600/1 In vain the steward racks, the tenants rave.
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto IX xv. 12 Let this one toil for bread—that rack for rent.
†e. transitive. To extort (money, etc.). Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > taking > extortion > practise extortion on [verb (transitive)] > extort
wringa1300
bribec1405
compela1500
extort1529
poll1559
wrest1565
scruze1590
rack1591
strain1600
squeeze1602
extorque1623
squeeze1639
screw1648
sponge1686
pinch1770
strike1894
1591 E. Spenser Prosopopoia in Complaints 1306 Each place..fild with treasure rackt with robberies.
a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Sea Voy. i. ii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Aaaaav/1 Here lies all..The money I ha wrackt by usurie.
a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) I. 310 When there is no more to be racked out of the People upon any other Pretence.
†f. transitive. To exhaust, wear out (land, property, etc.) by excessive use. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > using up, expending, or consuming > use up, expend, or consume [verb (transitive)] > use up completely or exhaust
stanch1338
exhaust1541
soak1577
tire1589
to suck dry1592
to run away with1622
exantlate1660
to spin out1718
rack1778
overteem1818
deplete1850
to stream out1894
1778 Family In-compact 6 Her Lands and Tenants almost rack'd.
1795 A. Young in R. Warner Coll. Hist. Hampshire III. 60 To sow three successive crops of white corn, in consequence of the benefits derived from the operation, is to rack and exhaust the soil.
1850 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 11 ii. 717 Soon after it was enclosed it was racked out by over-cropping.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) II. x. 410 It was thought, too, that they had racked their estates.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) III. xv. 283 Using..their last opportunity of racking out their properties.
†5. transitive. to rack a horse's wind: to cause a horse to breathe deeply by means of moderate exercise. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1607 G. Markham Cavelarice iii. 44 The first chase will (as the northerne man saies) racke your horses winde, and so prepare him to his labour.
1614 G. Markham Cheape & Good Husbandry i. i. 8 Trauaile moderately in the morning, till his winde be rack'd, and his limbes warmed.
1686 N. Cox Gentleman's Recreation (ed. 3) vi. 65 This will so rack your Horses wind..that he will be fit to be rid the next Chase briskly.
1740 J. Barnard Present for Apprentice 46 If they are wise, put not into a gallop, till their wind be well rack'd.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

rackv.2

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Forms:

α. late Middle English rakke, late Middle English– rack, 1600s racke.

β. 1600s–1700s wrack.

Origin: Of uncertain origin.
Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps < one of the Romance or post-classical Latin verbs cited below, although the etymologies of most of these, as well as the relationships between them, are unclear. Compare Old Occitan (Gascon) arequa to draw off (wine) from the sediment (1412; of unknown origin; Occitan (Gascon) arracar ); it is unclear whether this is the same word as Occitan arracar to decant (wine) from one container into another (recorded in 19th- and 20th-cent. sources; < raca residues of grapes remaining after pressing (14th cent. in Old Occitan; > Middle French racque (a1544)), further origin uncertain and disputed (see further Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch at rhax and Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch XXII. part 2, 74/2 at soutirer). Compare also post-classical Latin reccare to draw off (wine, cider, etc.) from the sediment (13th cent. in British sources), Old French (chiefly in Jewish sources) rechier , reechier , etc. (13th cent.), Middle French (Picardy, Flanders) resquier , resquyer (end of the 14th cent.), all in sense ‘to decant (wine) from one barrel into another’, likewise of unknown origin. In view of the early attestation in British sources of both post-classical Latin reccare and a number of vernacular nouns with related meanings (see note), it is possible that the Romance and post-classical Latin verbs, especially the Old Occitan (Gascon) verb, may in fact show borrowings < English, although if so the origin of the English word remains entirely unclear. Compare racked adj.1 and the post-classical Latin words cited at that entry.For a suggested etymology of the French verbs see C. H. Livingston in Mod. Lang. Notes (1942) 57 631–8 and Romanic Review (1946) 37 349–55, although this has subsequently been refuted by R. Levy in Romanic Review (1946) 37 356–9). French †vin raqué wine of inferior quality produced from the residues of grapes (1600) has sometimes been compared, but can hardly constitute a parallel on semantic grounds (since the English verb denotes a technique of improving the quality of wine by purifying it). A number of vernacular nouns (e.g. rac, rec, reec, rek, reyk) apparently with related meanings are found in British sources in a French or (usually) Latin context in the 13th and 14th centuries, but it is unclear whether these words are to be interpreted as English or French: see further M. T. Löfvenberg Contributions to Middle Engl. Lexicography & Etymology (1946) 68–70.
1.
a. transitive. To draw off (wine, cider, etc.) from the sediment. Also with off. Also occasionally intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > manufacture of alcoholic drink > [verb (transitive)] > rack off
racka1475
a1475 J. Russell Bk. Nurture (Harl. 4011) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 125 The reboyle to Rakke to þe lies of þe rose, þat shalle be his amendynge.
1633 in G. Ornsby Select. from Househ. Bks. Naworth Castle (1878) 330 To the cooper for rackinge 2 hogsheades of sack.
1694 P. Falle Acct. Isle of Jersey ii. 71 [To] ferment, rack and bottle our Cidar.
1736 Compl. Family-piece i. v. 192 Rack it off into another Vessel.
1780 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 28 Mead..may be racked, fined, and managed, in every respect as other white wines.
1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. I. viii. 303 It will be necessary to rack off from one cask to another.
1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 506 Whenever the wine becomes dry, rack off the clear into a clean and sulphured cask.
1880 Act 43 & 44 Vict. c. 24 §64 The proprietor of spirits..may..vat, blend, or rack them in the warehouse.
1910 Encycl. Brit. IV. 511/1 After the fermentation and cleansing operations are completed, the beer is racked off..into storage vessels or trade casks.
1974 Good Housek. Bk. Wine iii. 52 It was bottled straight out of the cask..without the wine being racked or filtered off the deposit in the cask.
1991 Q. Rev. Wines Autumn 27/2 For the next several weeks, the oil is racked every ten to 15 days to remove sediment.
1995 Mother Earth News Dec. 59/1 Rack the beer into a sterilized fermenter and add the activated package of yeast.
†b. transitive. figurative. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1653 J. Gauden Hieraspistes 74 Rack him off further, and refine him from the lees of sensual and inordinate lusts.
1683 A. Snape Anat. Horse i. xxviii. 64 Serving as a Pipe to rack the Urine as it were out of the Bladder of the Young.
1696 T. Brookhouse Temple Opened 17 Christ Racks off his Truth from Vessel to Vessel.
1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman of Pleasure II. 112 A body jaded, and wrack'd off to the lees by constant repeated over-draughts of pleasure.
1764 S. Foote Patron ii. 32 When..the sprightly first-runnings of life are rack'd off, you offer the vapid dregs to your deity.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas II. v. i. 356 Every morning I wrote down in my pocket-book such anecdotes as I meant to rack off in the course of the day.
1861 G. A. Sala Seven Sons Mammon xvii, in Temple Bar June 302 His speech was of the purest Dublin jackeen just racked through a cask of Cork whisky.
†2. transitive. To empty (a cask, etc.) by racking. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > manufacture of alcoholic drink > [verb (transitive)] > empty casks
rack1626
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §306 Rack the one Vessell from the Lees.
1682 Art & Myst. of Vintners 68 Rack your Cask very clean, and let it remain full of water all night.
1743 W. Ellis London & Country Brewer (ed. 2) III. 238 Rack a Vessel of mummy Beer into two Casks, and fill them up with new Beer.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

rackv.3

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Forms: 1500s rakkynge (present participle), 1500s–1600s racke, 1500s– rack, 1900s– rak (Australian).
Origin: Of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: rack v.1
Etymology: Origin uncertain. Perhaps a transferred use of rack v.1; compare Dutch rekken , †recken to run, (of horses) to gallop (although this is apparently first attested later: late 16th cent. in senses ‘(of people) to run, make haste’ and ‘to flee’, early 17th cent. in sense ‘to gallop’), transferred use of rekken , †recken to stretch (a limb) out (see rack v.1 and rech v.), with reference to the runner's foot or horse's hoof being stretched out; for similar semantic development of words which are perhaps ultimately related perhaps compare also reke v.1 and rake v.1 Compare later rack n.6E. Weekley, in Trans. Philol. Soc. 1910 372–3, suggests French trac track n. as etymon, but this is unlikely, as its relevant sense ‘gait of a horse or mule’ is only attested considerably later (1694), and an earlier occurrence in Rabelais (1534, in the passage translated in quot. 1653 at track n. 1b) does not mean ‘pacing of a horse’, but ‘sound of walking people, of footsteps’. Weekley's suggested explanation of Middle French racquassure (in an isolated attestation in Palsgrave, who uses it to translate ‘racking’: see quot. 1530 at racking n.3) as either a compositorial error or a metanalysis of an (unattested) noun *tracquassure ‘act of moving at a rack’ is also unconvincing. See further discussion at track n., track v.1, and Französisches etymol. Wörterbuch at *trak-.
1.
a. intransitive. Of a horse or other animal (also in extended use of a rider): to move at a rack (rack n.6). Also figurative. to rack on (or out): to set off at a rack. Cf. also racking adj.1
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by speed or gait > [verb (intransitive)] > rack
rack1530
the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > group Ruminantia (sheep, goats, cows, etc.) > types of deer > [verb (intransitive)] > move in specific way
rack1530
1530 [implied in: J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 260/2 Rackyng of a horse in his pace, racquassure. (at racking n.3)].
a1578 J. Heywood Witty & Witless 561 in Two Moral Interludes (1991) 38 Ambyll he, trot he, go he a foote pase, Walope he, galop he, racke he in trase.
1589 J. Lyly Pappe with Hatchet sig. E 2 After Martin had racked ouer his protestation with a Iades pace, hee runnes ouer his fooleries with a knaues gallop.
1589 G. Peele Eglogue Gratulatorie xii His rain-deer racking with proud and stately pace.
c1626 Dick of Devonshire (1955) 388 Ile..trott vp hill wth you, & racke downewards.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Northampt. 292 He was thorough-paced in all Spiritual Popery..but in secular Popery..he did not so much as rack.
1671 London Gaz. No. 627/4 Bay Gelding..trots and racks.
1835 W. Irving Tour on Prairies xx, in Crayon Misc. I. 146 They say he [sc. a wild horse] can pace and rack (or amble) faster than the fleetest horses can run.
1843 F. Marryat Narr. Trav. M. Violet II. iii. 62 No one ever saw him trotting or galloping; he only racks.
1935 H. L. Davis Honey in Horn xi. 175 He saddled and bridled the mare..and racked out on the road.
1989 C. R. Wilson & W. Ferris Encycl. Southern Culture 1228/1 Let your horses rack on.
†b. transitive. To make (a horse) go at a rack. Also: to travel (a specified distance) at a rack. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1655 Markham's Perfect Horseman 50 When you are mounted, rack the horse foot-pace..at least a mile or two.
1717 W. Hope tr. J. de Solleysel Compl. Horseman (ed. 3) i. xlii. 164 Rack your Horse gently up to the Starting-Post.
1829 Sporting Mag. 23 266 There can be little doubt of his having racked a mile in even less than I stated.
1887 E. B. Custer Tenting on Plains vi. 187 He [sc. a horse] is very affectionate, and he racks a mile inside of three minutes.
2. colloquial.
a. intransitive. U.S. Of a person or a vehicle: to move or travel at a steady pace. Usually with adverb, as around, along, etc.
ΚΠ
1883 Cent. Mag. Aug. 615/2 You aint gwineter ketch Brer Rabbit rackin' 'round whar de Yallergaters is.
1948 Z. N. Hurston Seraph on Suwanee xv. 145 Just let me catch you..! Rack on away from here!
1993 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 31 Aug. 13 x The train is tracking and racking along at 70 mph.
b. intransitive. Australian. to rack off: to leave, go away; frequently as imperative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [verb (intransitive)]
scud1602
go scrape!1611
to push off (also along)1740
to go it1797
to walk one's chalks1835
morris1838
scat1838
go 'long1859
to take a walk1881
shoot1897
skidoo1905
to beat it1906
to go to the dickens1910
to jump (or go (and) jump) in the lake1912
scram1928
to piss offa1935
to bugger off1937
to fuck off1940
go and have a roll1941
eff1945
to feck off?1945
to get lost1947
to sod off1950
bug1956
to hit, split or take the breeze1959
naff1959
frig1965
muck1974
to rack off1975
1975 Sun-Herald (Sydney) 29 June (title of record) Rak Off Normie.
1980 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 10 Apr. 36 (caption) ‘Gimme ya money mate or I'll shoot ya!’ ‘No... Now rack off!’
1995 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 13 Jan. 7/8 I turned around and told the guy to rack off and next minute my left arm was behind my back and I was being thrown out.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

rackv.4

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: rack n.4
Etymology: < rack n.4 Compare post-classical Latin rackare to fit (a sheepfold) with racks (1392 in a British source).
†1. transitive. To provide with a rack or racks (in various senses). Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [verb (transitive)] > fit with fodder racks
rack1577
1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry f. 129v The houses must be seuered with diuers roomes, enclosed and racked, the racke must stande no higher then the Oxe may easely reach.
1583 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxf. (1880) 432 The same stable to be plancked and racked at the charges of this Cytie.
1619 in J. Imrie & J. G. Dunbar Accts. Masters of Wks. (1982) II. 133 For xv fadum of towes to rack the cartes with.
†2. transitive. Perhaps: to feed as at a rack. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feed or nourish [verb (transitive)] > maintain life with food
nourishc1300
contain1579
maintain1584
rack1659
1659 T. Burton Diary (1828) IV. 268 They look upon them [sc. negroes] as their goods, horses, &c., and rack them only to make their time out of them, and cherish them to perform their work.
3.
†a. transitive. Mining. To wash (ore) on a rack (rack n.4 6b). Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1828 [implied in: W. J. Henwood in Trans. Royal Geol. Soc. Cornwall (1832) 4 157 The contents..go through another operation, called..Framing or Racking. (at racking n.7 2)].
1867 R. Hunt Ure's Dict. Arts (ed. 6) II. 106 When the charge of ore has been thoroughly racked, the table is turned on its axes..and the deposit on its surface is washed into boxes.
b. transitive. To place (something) in or on a rack; spec. (Oil Industry) to place (lengths of drill pipe) in a pipe rack or derrick. Also occasionally: to load or fill (a rack) with objects.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > support > [verb (transitive)] > place (a thing) on for support > on a framework
cradle1775
rack1855
trestle1879
society > occupation and work > industry > drilling for oil or gas > drill for oil or gas [verb (transitive)] > other procedures
to fang a pump, (loosely) a well1819
to rack up1839
shootc1870
torpedo1873
pull1895
sidetrack1906
swab1916
stab1922
re-enter1937
rack1949
1855 E. J. Hopkins Organ 39 Most of the metal flue pipes..are racked in this manner.
1897 Daily News 8 Nov. 3/1 The Manhattan Beach Cycle Track have racked 1,000 Cycles.
1935 W. Faulkner Pylon 312 A fumed oak revolving bookcase racked neatly with battered medical books.
1949 Our Industry (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co.) (ed. 2) ii. 39 When the drill pipe is being withdrawn, it is uncoupled in ‘stands’ of three 30-ft. lengths, these 90-ft. ‘stands’ being racked upright in the derrick.
1970 W. Smith Gold Mine xxix. 81 Big King..wiped down his glossy shoes and racked them.
1971 C. Bonington Annapurna South Face xiii. 163 Mick got ready for the next pitch,..racking his pitons on karabiners slung to one side so that he could free them easily.
1991 Independent 2 Dec. 17/7 Hey, I have a record out, too, and they rack it in the same rack.
4.
a. transitive. To adjust or extend (an apparatus, part of a mechanism) by means of a rack and pinion. Also in extended use, of a mechanism containing other means of adjustment.
ΚΠ
1831 G. Henson Civil Hist. Framework-knitters v. 279 After working two, and sometimes three plain courses, the machine was ‘racked’, or removed on the bottom axle, the space of two needles.
1890 Internat. Ann. Anthonys Photogr. Bull. 295 The camera is racked to a certain distance.
1935 W. Faulkner Pylon 206 He..sat down and racked the note form into the typewriter and began to fill it in, carefully.
1995 Handguns June 36/2 I would not..rely upon racking the slide of an auto pistol to load the chamber.
2005 Welland (Ont.) Tribune (Nexis) 31 Aug. a3 Racking a zoom lens during a long exposure produces a blend of color and movement.
b. transitive. To move, adjust, or extend (part of a mechanism) down, in, out, etc., in this way. Also occasionally intransitive of a mechanism: to move, extend.Earliest in to rack up: see to rack up 3 at Phrasal verbs.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > wheel > furnish with wheel(s) [verb (transitive)] > (dis)connect by gearing
ungear1828
gear1851
rack1867
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > operate or be operated by other parts [verb (intransitive)] > be moved by converter
rack1867
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > operate other parts [verb (transitive)] > move by converter
rack1867
to rack up1867
1867 J. Hogg Microscope (ed. 6) i. ii. 62 By racking up the condenser for the best light.
1890 Internat. Ann. Anthonys Photogr. Bull. 94 A Double Extension Camera..where the front racks out.
1906 Westm. Gaz. 18 Aug. 14/2 If the image is too big, rack out the camera a little and bring the board nearer. If too small, rack in and push the board away.
1978 Bull. Brit. Mycol. Soc. 12 ii. 137 The microscope does not have to be racked down.
1986 Photographer May 31/1 (caption) The circuit board was exposed once then re-exposed whilst racking back the camera.
†5. transitive. To give (something) the form of a rack. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1891 in Cent. Dict. Rack... To form into or as if into a rack or grating; give the appearance of a rack to.
6. transitive. In Pool and (occasionally) similar games: to arrange (the balls) in the rack in preparation for a game. Cf. rack n.4 9b.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [verb (transitive)]
rack1917
to rack up1966
1917 Outlook 14 Mar. 469 (advt.) Push back the chairs, rack the balls and fire the shot that starts an evening of royal sport.
1967 in T. Kochman Rappin' & Stylin' Out (1972) 383 He banked the nine ball..and drew the cue ball back... ‘Rack'em,’ he said.
2002 Toronto Star (Nexis) 5 Jan. b1 His concentration when he's racking the balls for a new game is almost hypnotic.

Phrasal verbs

With adverbs in specialized senses. to rack up
1.
a. transitive. To provide (a horse) with hay in a rack for the night. Also figurative. Now English regional (chiefly southern).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [verb (transitive)] > feed horses
oat1732
to rack up1743
hay1858
1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Dec. iv. 29 When the Landlord came to rack up the Horse for all Night, he brought a Parcel of Hay.
1799 J. Banister Synopsis Husb. iv. vi. 299 By nine in the evening the horses are racked up and left to their repose.
1834 Brit. Husbandry (Libr. Useful Knowl.) I. 232 Pea-haulm is..employed in cart-stables for racking up the horses.
1844 J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & Widows II. xix. 39 You might have racked yourself up more comfortably.
1893 Times 20 May 11/5 The younger generation find it intolerably irksome to return after supper to the stables to ‘rack up’ the horses.
a1912 H. Mundy in L. Hughes Young Austral. Pioneer: Henry Mundy (2003) 57 About two hours after dark the horses had to be racked up.
1960 G. E. Evans Horse in Furrow ii. 43 The baiters' mates..were expected..to rack the horses up for the night—that is, to fill their racks with fodder.
b. intransitive. To fill a horse's rack with hay for the night.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > providing or receiving food > feeding animals > [verb (intransitive)] > fill rack
to rack up1778
1778 W. Marshall Minutes Agric. 22 Nov. 1775 The hay is meant merely to rack-up with.
1904 in Eng. Dial. Dict. V. 5/1 We shoots off at three o'clock, but I 'as to go and rack up at seven every evening.
1987 S. Stewart Lifting Latch vii. 68 After I'd racked up, I'd walk home for my tea.
c. transitive. To fasten (a horse) to a hay rack or (in extended use) to some other fixture.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > general equipment > [verb (transitive)] > tether
renewc1450
tether1483
stake1544
picket1729
headline1800
flit1816
hang1835
to rack up1843
bail1846
to hang up1858
bush1871
manger1905
1843 W. Youatt Horse (new ed.) xx. 414 The horse should be racked up during a fortnight, after which, if the case is going on well, the animal may often be turned out.
1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Man. Brit. Rural Sports 330/2 The lad first racks up his horse, so that he cannot lie down, but can reach his manger.
1886 Sat. Rev. 6 Mar. 327/2 It is stupid of a groom to rack a horse short up while he is feeding.
1888 F. T. Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. Rack up, to fasten up a horse with a short chain so that he cannot lie down.
1913 W. S. Dixon Compl. Horseman 124 When a man went to rack her up, it was impossible to dress her unless she was racked up closely.
1997 M. A. Belknap Equine Dict. 342/2 Rack up,..to tie a horse, as to a ring attached to the wall.
2. transitive = sense 3b.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > drilling for oil or gas > drill for oil or gas [verb (transitive)] > other procedures
to fang a pump, (loosely) a well1819
to rack up1839
shootc1870
torpedo1873
pull1895
sidetrack1906
swab1916
stab1922
re-enter1937
rack1949
1839 W. Sewall Diary 8 Sept. (1930) 208/1 Harris and myself racked up about 1500 brick.
1950 Jrnl. Farm Econ. 32 926 The tobacco having been racked up on the tier poles of the curing barn.
1995 D. McLean Bunker Man 172 Now Karen had cleared away the dirty dishes and was racking them up in the washer.
3. transitive = sense 4b.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > operate other parts [verb (transitive)] > move by converter
rack1867
to rack up1867
1867To rack up [see sense 4b].
1911 E. R. Trotman & E. L. Thorp Princ. Bleaching & Finishing Cotton xxviii. 304 When wound up, the bearings of the batching roller are racked up and the roll unwound or removed.
1946 V. N. Wood Metall. Materials iii. 85 By racking up the stage the image of the structure of the metal is brought into rough focus at a set distance from the objective.
1958 G. H. Needham Pract. Use Microscope xv. 234/2 Three or four objectives are parfocalized..so that after focusing with the low dry, the high dry may be swung into position without racking the body tube up.
4. transitive. Originally North American. To accumulate; to ‘chalk up’; to achieve, score.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > win, lose, or score [verb (transitive)] > score
get1634
make1680
score1742
notch1836
steal1836
to put up1860
rattle1860
to put on1865
tally1875
net1907
to rack up1921
slam1959
1921 Atlanta Constit. 23 Jan. All told, the Tech floor leader racked up 8 field goals.
1956 Life 2 Apr. 103/1 In one recent week the girls racked up no fewer than 182 calls, incoming and outgoing.
1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 18/3 The winners won the statistical battle by a wide margin, racking up 22 first downs to 16 for the losers.
1992 Wall St. Jrnl. 25 Nov. b 2/4 The movie racked up box-office revenue of $23.8 million in its first 45 days.
2006 Reader's Digest (U.K. ed.) Apr. 64/1 Hilary..was also a gifted student... She racked up firsts in academics, music and sports.
5. transitive. = sense 6.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > billiards, pool, or snooker > [verb (transitive)]
rack1917
to rack up1966
1966 J. J. Phillips Mojo Hand vi. 54 One of the men..racked up the balls.
1989 Sunday Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Nexis) 16 Apr. c2 Occasionally he will rack up some balls on the pool table in the lobby of the Retirement Inn.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

rackv.5

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/, Scottish English /rak/
Forms: 1500s–1600s racke, 1500s– rack, 1800s wrack (Scottish).
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: rack n.2
Etymology: < rack n.2 (compare sense 3 at that entry). Compare earlier rake v.1 2b, raik v. 1b. Sc. National Dict. (at cited word) records the word as still in use in Perthshire, Fife, Midlothian, Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, and Roxburghshire in 1967.
Now chiefly Scottish.
intransitive. In early use, †of a cloud: to be driven before the wind (obsolete). Later (now Scottish), of the sky or the weather: to clear up. Also in figurative contexts. See also racked adj.3, racking adj.3
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impelling or driving > [verb (intransitive)] > be driven by the wind
drive1565
rack1590
scud1699
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > cloud > become cloudy or overcast [verb (intransitive)] > drive before the wind
rack1590
1590 [implied in: C. Marlowe Tamburlaine: 2nd Pt. sig. I8 Draw My chariot swifter than the racking cloudes. (at racking adj.3 1)].
1596 Raigne of Edward III sig. B3v Inconstant clouds: That racke vpon the carriage of the windes, Increase and die. View more context for this quotation
a1625 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Four Plays in One in Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ddddddddv/2 Stay, clouds, ye rack too fast.
1626 T. Hawkins tr. N. Caussin Holy Court I. 289 A fayth floating, and racking vp, and downe, like clouds.
1678 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 32 I..saw the Clouds rack at an unusual rate. View more context for this quotation
a1767 M. Bruce Poems (1796) 159 The wintry clouds That frown'd on life, rack up.
1813 W. Scott Rokeby i. 3 Racking o'er her [sc. the Moon's] face, the cloud Varies the tincture of her shroud.
1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. To Rack up, to clear up, spoken of the sky..when the clouds begin to open..so that the sky is seen.
1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle's Log I. ii. 86 A thin fleecy shred of cloud racking across the moon's disk.
1862 W. Hunter Biggar 135 As there's nae appearance of the wather rackin' up, I was thinkin' about stayin' at hame.
1921 Trans. Sc. Dial. Comm. in Sc. National. Dict. (1968) VII. at Rack, n.3, v. 2 'Is'd gaun to rack up, John?'
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

rackv.6

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Origin: Of unknown origin.
Etymology: Origin unknown. Compare earlier racking n.6
Nautical.
transitive. To bind (two ropes) together by weaving an additional strand of material between and around them. Cf. seize v. 10b, racking n.6
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > other nautical operations > [verb (transitive)] > work ropes or cables in specific ways
windc1550
veer1590
veer1604
rousea1625
heave1626
overhaul1626
ease1627
pay1627
reeve1627
unbend1627
to come up1685
overhale1692
to pay away1769
surge1769
render1777
to pay out1793
to round down1793
to set upon ——1793
swig1794
veer1806
snake1815
to side out for a bend1831
rack1841
snub1841
1841 R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. 119 Rack, to seize two ropes together, with cross-turns.
1868 G. S. Nares Seamanship (ed. 4) 106 Rack the jib and flying-jib halliards to their stays.
1985 P. Clissold Ansted's Dict. Sea Terms 225 The material (spun yarn or whatever may be used in its place) by which the ropes of a tackle are racked.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

rackv.7

Brit. /rak/, U.S. /ræk/
Origin: Apparently a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymon: rake v.3
Etymology: Apparently a variant (with shortening of the vowel) of rake v.3 Compare racking n.8 and slightly later raking n.3 2.
transitive. To build (a brick wall forming part of a corner) so that each course of bricks stops a little short of the one below, leaving the unfinished end of the wall stepped (until the work is later completed); to lay (bricks) in this manner. Usually with back. Cf. raking n.3The corners are constructed first to ensure that they are correctly aligned before the rest of the wall is completed.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > disposition of stones or bricks > lay stones or bricks [verb (transitive)] > in specific way
couch1531
bed1685
bond1700
coin1700
tooth1703
truss over1703
tail1823
rack1873
oversail1897
1873 F. Robertson Engin. Notes ii. 35 Where new work is to be connected with old, the adjoining ends should be racked back from each other.
1904 C. F. Mitchell Brickwork & Masonry ii. 77 (caption) Angles of walls racked preparatory to building.
1945 E. L. Braley Brickwork iii. 58 Usually five or seven courses are built at each corner, the work being racked back, e.g. first of all three stretchers, then four headers and one closer, then two stretchers, two headers and a closer, one stretcher, and finally the heading face of the top brick.
1972 S. Smith Brickwork iv. 17 When building a wall, it is usual to raise the ‘quoins’ (corners) first, ‘racking back’ the work as necessary.
1998 R. T. Kreh Building with Masonry iv. 74/1 This lead can be built higher than a rack-back lead because you only rack back half a brick on one end.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1OEn.2c1300n.31328n.41343n.51358n.61566n.71570n.81574n.91599n.101602n.111655n.121805v.11435v.2a1475v.31530v.41577v.51590v.61841v.71873
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英语词典包含1132095条英英释义在线翻译词条，基本涵盖了全部常用单词的英英翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。

　

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