wrecker
- a person or thing that wrecks.
- a person, car, or train employed in removing wreckage, debris, etc., as from railroad tracks.
- Also called tow car, tow truck. a vehicle equipped with a mechanical apparatus for hoisting and pulling, used to tow wrecked, disabled, or stalled automobiles.
- Also called housewrecker. a person whose business it is to demolish and remove houses or other buildings, as in clearing sites for other use.
- a person or vessel employed in recovering salvage from wrecked or disabled vessels.
- a person who plunders wrecks, especially after exhibiting false signals in order to cause shipwrecks.
Origin of wrecker
Related Words for wrecker
uneasy, stiff, tight, labored, tense, constrained, nervous, shaky, strained, edgy, anxious, apprehensive, agitated, jittery, restive, excited, stressful, afraid, restless, fidgetyExamples from the Web for wrecker
Historical Examples of wrecker
He knows them, now, for false lights on the wrecker's coast.
HolbeinBeatrice Fortescue
The Wrecker is a wild and interesting story which had a large success.
Robert Louis StevensonMargaret Moyes Black
"That's what I'm trying to tell you," went on Wrecker calmly.
The Grammar School Boys of GridleyH. Irving Hancock
Then Dick talked in whispers with Wrecker for a few moments.
The Grammar School Boys of GridleyH. Irving Hancock
Now, skip over there, Wrecker, and hide with the fellows in the bushes.
The Grammar School Boys of GridleyH. Irving Hancock
wrecker
- a person or thing that ruins or destroys
- mainly US and Canadian a person whose job is to demolish buildings or dismantle cars
- (formerly) a person who lures ships to destruction to plunder the wreckage
- US and Canadian another word for tow truck
Word Origin and History for wrecker
1804, in reference to those who salvage cargos from wrecked ships, from wreck (n.). In Britain often with a overtones of "one who causes a shipwreck in order to plunder it" (1820); but in 19c. Bahamas and the Florida Keys it could be a legal occupation. Applied to those who wreck and plunder institutions from 1882. Meaning "demolition worker" attested by 1958. As a type of ship employed in salvage operations, from 1789. As a railway vehicle with a crane or hoist, from 1904.