rack

[ rak ]

/ ræk /

noun

a framework of bars, wires, or pegs on which articles are arranged or deposited: a clothes rack; a luggage rack.

a fixture containing several tiered shelves, often affixed to a wall: a book rack; a spice rack.

a spreading framework set on a wagon for carrying hay, straw, or the like, in large loads.

Pool.

a wooden frame of triangular shape within which the balls are arranged before play.
the balls so arranged: He took aim at the rack.

Machinery.

a bar, with teeth on one of its sides, adapted to engage with the teeth of a pinion (rack and pinion) or the like, as for converting circular into rectilinear motion or vice versa.
a bar having a series of notches engaging with a pawl or the like.

a former instrument of torture consisting of a framework on which a victim was tied, often spread-eagled, by the wrists and ankles, to be slowly stretched by spreading the parts of the framework.

a cause or state of intense suffering of body or mind.

torment; anguish.

violent strain.

a pair of antlers.

Slang. a bed, cot, or bunk: I spent all afternoon in the rack.

verb (used with object)

to torture; distress acutely; torment: His body was racked with pain.

to strain in mental effort: to rack one's brains.

to strain by physical force or violence.

to strain beyond what is normal or usual.

to stretch the body of (a person) in torture by means of a rack.

Nautical. to seize (two ropes) together side by side.

Verb Phrases

rack out, Slang. to go to bed; go to sleep: I racked out all afternoon.

rack up,

Pool. to put (the balls) in a rack.
Informal. to tally, accumulate, or amass as an achievement or score: The corporation racked up the greatest profits in its history.

Nearby words

racing flag, racing form, racing skate, racism, racist, rack, rack and pinion, rack and ruin, go to, rack car, rack locomotive, rack off

Origin of rack

1250–1300; Middle English rakke, rekke (noun) < Middle Dutch rac, rec, recke; compare Middle Low German reck, German Reck

SYNONYMS FOR rack

7 torture, pain, agony, tribulation, ordeal.

12 See torment.

Related forms

rack·ing·ly, adverb

Can be confused

rack wrack wreak wreckracked wracked wreaked wrecked

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (1 of 6)

rack

/ (ræk) /

noun

a framework for holding, carrying, or displaying a specific load or objecta plate rack; a hat rack; a hay rack; a luggage rack

a toothed bar designed to engage a pinion to form a mechanism that will interconvert rotary and rectilinear motions

a framework fixed to an aircraft for carrying bombs, rockets, etc

the rack an instrument of torture that stretched the body of the victim

a cause or state of mental or bodily stress, suffering, etc; anguish; torment (esp in the phrase on the rack)

slang, mainly US a woman's breasts

US and Canadian (in pool, snooker, etc)

the triangular frame used to arrange the balls for the opening shot
the balls so groupedBrit equivalent: frame

verb (tr)

to torture on the rack

Also: wrack to cause great stress or suffering toguilt racked his conscience

Also: wrack to strain or shake (something) violently, as by great physical forcethe storm racked the town

to place or arrange in or on a rackto rack bottles of wine

to move (parts of machinery or a mechanism) using a toothed rack

to raise (rents) exorbitantly; rack-rent

rack one's brains to strain in mental effort, esp to remember something or to find the solution to a problem

Derived Forms

racker, noun

Word Origin for rack

C14 rekke, probably from Middle Dutch rec framework; related to Old High German recchen to stretch, Old Norse rekja to spread out

xref

See wrack 1

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (2 of 6)

rack

/ (ræk) /

noun

destruction; wreck (obsolete except in the phrase go to rack and ruin)

Word Origin for rack

C16: variant of wrack 1

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (3 of 6)

rack

/ (ræk) /

noun

another word for single-foot, a gait of the horse

Word Origin for rack

C16: perhaps based on rock ²

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (4 of 6)

rack

⁴

/ (ræk) /

noun

a group of broken clouds moving in the wind

verb

(intr) (of clouds) to be blown along by the wind

Word Origin for rack

Old English wrǣc what is driven; related to Gothic wraks persecutor, Swedish vrak wreckage

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (5 of 6)

rack

⁵

/ (ræk) /

verb (tr)

to clear (wine, beer, etc) as by siphoning it off from the dregs

to fill a container with (beer, wine, etc)

Word Origin for rack

C15: from Old Provençal arraca, from raca dregs of grapes after pressing

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (6 of 6)

rack

⁶

/ (ræk) /

noun

the neck or rib section of mutton, pork, or veal

Word Origin for rack

Old English hrace; related to Old High German rahho, Danish harke, Swedish harkla to clear one's throat

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with rack out (1 of 2)

rack out

Go to sleep, as in I racked out about midnight. This slangy expression, as well as the related rack time, for sleeping or snooze time, use rack to refer to being laid out on a framework, here a bed.

Idioms and Phrases with rack out (2 of 2)

rack

In addition to the idioms beginning with rack

rack and ruin, go to
rack one's brain
rack out
rack up

also see:

on the rack

rack

noun

verb (used with object)

Verb Phrases

RELATED CONTENT

Nearby words

Origin of rack

SYNONYMS FOR rack

Related forms

Can be confused

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (1 of 6)

rack

noun

verb (tr)

Derived Forms

Word Origin for rack

xref

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (2 of 6)

rack

noun

Word Origin for rack

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (3 of 6)

rack

noun

Word Origin for rack

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (4 of 6)

rack

noun

verb

Word Origin for rack

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (5 of 6)

rack

verb (tr)

Word Origin for rack

British Dictionary definitions for rack out (6 of 6)

rack

noun

Word Origin for rack

Idioms and Phrases with rack out (1 of 2)

rack out

Idioms and Phrases with rack out (2 of 2)

rack