rake-off
noun
a share or amount taken or received illicitly, as in connection with a public enterprise.
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rake-off
American
[reyk-awf, -of]
/ ˈreɪkˌɔf, -ˌɒf /
noun
-
a share or amount taken or received illicitly, as in connection with a public enterprise.
-
a share, as of profits.
-
a discount in the price of a commodity.
We got a 20 percent rake-off on the dishwasher.
rake-off
British
noun
verb
rake off
Idioms
Etymology
Origin of rake-off
1885–90, noun use of verb phrase rake off
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But the men with no fingerprints won’t permit it, those athletic directors and presidents who have subverted college athletics into a rake-off while pretending to govern them.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 21, 2019
Though most officers are dissatisfied with this explanation, few, if any, believe that there is any rake-off at the top.
From Time Magazine Archive
The divine detectives who arrest Joseph K. are brassy louts who eat his breakfast, try to get a rake-off by sending out for his food, try to make off with his shirt and underwear.
From Time Magazine Archive
Their proposition was to get the manufacturers Government contracts in return for a 3% rake-off.
From Time Magazine Archive
Ye don’t do that for love of us, nor yet for a rake-off, for ye asked for none.
From The Boss of Wind River by A. M. (Arthur Murray) Chisholm
Their strategy for the next generation of personal technology is to control the ecosystem at every level, and to rake off a piece of all the financial transactions taking place there.
From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2010
He's trying to expose politicians who rake off the profits, and he recently unearthed three whistle-blowers who claim that Arroyo's husband, son and brother-in-law are involved.
From Time Magazine Archive
The lower ones see the higher ones raking off, and they rake off, too—down to conductors and brakemen.
From The Deluge by David Graham Phillips
If it is mown frequently--say once or twice a week--in the periods of most vigorous growth, it will not be necessary to rake off the mowings.
From Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) by L. H. (Liberty Hyde) Bailey
Why didn't you rake off these dahlias as I told you to yesterday?
From The Heart's Kingdom by Maria Thompson Daviess
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
