rack-rent

American  

[rak-rent] / ˈrækˌrɛnt /

noun

1. Also rack rent rent equal to or nearly equal to the full annual value of a property.

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verb (used with object)

1. to exact the highest possible rent for.

2. to demand rack-rent from.

rack-rent British  

noun

1. a high rent that annually equals or nearly equals the value of the property upon which it is charged

2. any extortionate rent

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verb

1. to charge an extortionate rent for (property, land, etc)

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• rack-renter
  noun

Etymology

Origin of rack-rent

First recorded in 1600–10

Example Sentences

"Men who cheat in trade, who scamp work, evade taxes, rack-rent the poor, are no better than pirates and wreckers."

From Viking Boys by Saxby, Jessie Margaret Edmondston

Formerly all tenants had some capital, and often considerable; but absentee landlordism, rising rack-rent, and failing cotton have stripped them well-nigh of all, and probably not over half of them to-day own their mules.

From The Souls of Black Folk by Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt)

What moral conviction is expressed in the condemnation of usurious interest and of rack-rent?

From The Social Principles of Jesus by Rauschenbusch, Walter

It is otherwise with ordinary tenements, when the tenant pays a full, or what the law terms rack-rent; the landlord is then to insure, unless it is otherwise arranged by the agreement.

From The Book of Household Management by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary)

The result of such rack-rent can only be evil,—abuse and neglect of the soil, deterioration in the character of the laborers, and a widespread sense of injustice.

From The Souls of Black Folk by Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt)