▪ I. rack, n.1
(ræk)
Forms: 4 rac, 4–5 rakke, 4–6 rak, (5 rake), 6–7 racke, 5– rack.
[Chiefly a northern word, and perh. of Scandinavian origin; cf. Norw. and Sw. dial. rak (Sw. vrak, Da. vrag) wreck, wreckage, refuse, rubbish, etc., f. reka to drive, reke.
The only form recorded in ON. is rek wreckage, but the forms cited above seem to indicate an ON. *rak, parallel to OE. wræc from wrecan wreak. The history of the word is not quite clear, however, and some of the senses may have a different origin.]
† 1. A rush, shock, collision, ? hard blow or push. Also, a noise as of a shock; a crash. Obs.
| a 1300 Body & Soul in Map's Poems (Camden) 335 Thouȝ me lete have rap and rac. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 3476 (Kölbing) Vlfines launce tobrac. Þe þre come þo gret rac. c 1400 Melayne 1249 Thay ruysschede Samen with swilke a rake That many a Saraȝene laye on his bake. c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 918 The bernys bowit abak, Sa woundir rude wes the rak. 1508 Dunbar Gold. Targe 240 Thay fyrit gunnis..The rochis all resownyt wyth the rak. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. xii. 41 Thai meyt in melle with a felloun rak. |
† 2. A rush of wind; a gale, storm. Obs. rare.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 1984 There a tempest hom toke..A rak and a royde wynde rose in hor saile. 1513 Douglas æneis x. v. 127 Thai fle the weddris blast and rak of wynd. |
3. a. Clouds, or a mass of cloud, driven before the wind in the upper air. (The main use.)
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 176 What may gome trawe, Bot he þat rules þe rak may rwe on þose oþer? c 1440 York Myst. xvi. 7 The rakke of þe rede skye fulle rappely I ridde. c 1450 Lonelich Grail xxxv. 386 The Schipe wente..Swiftere than þe Rakke In þe Eyr. 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) 34 The welkin had no racke that seemed to glide. 1626 Bacon Sylva §115 The Windes in the Vpper Region (which moue the Clouds aboue which we call the Racke). 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 435 With such a force the flying rack is driv'n. 1789 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. (1791) 53 Now a speck is seen! And now the fleeting rack obtrudes between! 1808 Scott Marm. iv. Introd., Along the sky, Mix'd with the rack, the snow mists fly. 1840 Thackeray George Cruikshank (1869) 317 A great heavy rack of clouds goes sweeping over the bridge. 1886 Hall Caine Son of Hagar i. viii. 150 The stars struggled one by one through a rack of flying cloud. |
| fig. 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. |
| Comb. 1618 S. Ward Jethro's Justice (1627) 57 It is the ground wind, not the rack-winde, that driues mils and ships. 1620 T. Scott God & King (1633) 16 It is for me to observe the ground-winde, not the rack-winde. |
† b. Driving mist or fog. Obs.
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1695 In rede rudede vpon rak rises þe sunne. 1418–20 Siege Rouen 993 in Archæologia XXII. 373 The clothis..Kepte hem there from rayne and rack. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 131 Wyth cloudy gum and rak ourquhelmyt the air. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. xiv. 10 That which is now a Horse, euen with a thoght the Racke dislimes, and makes it indistinct. |
| fig. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 156 The great Globe it selfe..shall dissolue, And..Leaue not a racke behinde. [1874 Pusey Lenten Serm. 100 The most plausible will not leave a rack behind.] |
4. a. A (narrow) path or track. (Cf. rake n.3)
The identity of the south-western word (cf. also b) with the northern is somewhat doubtful. With some of the senses cf. also Du. rak a stretch (of road, river, etc.).
| a 1400–50 Alexander 3383 Oute of þe rakke [v.r. rake] of rightwyssnes rynne shuld he neuer. 1825–46 Brockett N.C. Gloss (ed. 3) II. 86 Rack, a narrow path, a track, a trace. 1879– In dial. glossaries (Shropsh., Glouc., Wilts, etc). 1899 H. T. Timmins Nooks & Corners of Shropshire 65 We go down a rough footpath, or ‘rack’, as they call it here⁓abouts. 1904 G. A. B. Dewar Glamour of Earth v. 81, I came down the rack—the narrow path which is cut through ripe underwood fifteen years old, and marks the end of one lot and the beginning of another. 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. II. 149 Rack, (a) A narrow woodland track maintained for inspection and communication and for extraction of poles, etc. by hand or animal haulage. |
b. The track made by an animal; esp. that of a deer, as marked by gaps in hedges, etc.
| 1611 Cotgr., Les passées d'un Cerf, His racke, or passages; the places which he has gone through, or by. 1817 J. Mayer Sportsm. 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? |
c. Sc. A ford in a river. d. Sc. The course in curling (Jam.). e. north. A reach of a river.
| c. ? 16.. Kinmont Willie iv. in Child Ballads III. 472/1 They led him thro the Liddel-rack, And also thro the Carlisle sands. |
| e. 1832 J. F. Watson Historic Tales of Olden Time N.-Y. City. 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. V. 164 The Dutch navigators divided the Hudson into racks or reaches. The former word remains in Claverack. |
f. rack of (the) eye: (see quots.). dial.
| a 1796 Pegge Derbicisms (E.D.S.) 117 To judge of the value of a thing by ‘the rack o' th' eye’, by view or sight, without weighing or measuring. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss., Rack of eye, to work by. To be guided by the eye in the execution of work done. 1886–7 in Cheshire glossaries. |
▪ II. rack, n.2
(ræk)
Forms: 4–5 rekke, rakk(e, 5 rak, 5–7 racke, 6– rack; also 5–6 rake.
[App. a. MDu. rec, reck- (Du. rek, rekke) or MLG. rek, rekke, rik (LG. and G. reck, recke; hence Da. række, Sw. räck, räcke), applied to various contrivances (as a horizontal bar or pole, a framework, shelf, etc.) on which things are hung or placed, a hen-roost, rail, etc., prob. f. recken to reach, stretch; see rack v.3 The usual vowel of the Eng. word appears also in Du. rak, (L)G. rack, variants of rek, reck, but may have been developed independently.]
† 1. ? An iron bar or framework to which prisoners were secured. Obs.
The exact sense in the first quot. is doubtful.
| c 1305 St. Cristopher 192 in E.E.P. (1862) 64 O womman he let honge, Heuye rekkes bynde to hire fet. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 92 Y⊇ warde must haue a racke w{supt} ij. longe cheynes of yrne. 1572 Nottingham Rec. IV. 145, viij. lb. of eyron to the town's rackes and mendyng. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. iv. 14 Both his hands fast bound behind his backe, And both his feet in fetters to an yron racke. |
2. A bar (usu. in pl.) or set of bars of iron or wood (see quot. 1617) used to support a spit or other cooking utensil. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1390 Earl Derby's Exped. (Camden) 18 Pro ij paribus rakkes pro caudrons pendendis. 1424 E.E. Wills (1882) 56 Too spytes, and a peyre rakkes of yryne, and to brandernes. Ibid. 102 Also a rake of yren forto rost on his eyren. 1467 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 399 In makenge of rakkes of tre to roste one, xij d. 1564 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees 1835) 223 Toynges, gibcrokes, rakincroke, and rackes. 1617 Minsheu, 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. a 1643 Cartwright Lady Errant, v. i, Spits, Andirons, Racks and such like Utensils. 1706 Phillips, Rack, a Wooden Frame..to lay Spits on in a Kitchin. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Rack, a piece of iron to hang a spit on. |
3. a. A frame made with upright bars of wood or metal to hold fodder for horses and cattle, either fixed in a stable, or movable so as to be placed where desired in a field or farmyard; a heck.
| 14.. in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 124 To se that lord in a racke lye That hathe hevon under hys poste. 1443 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 212 In a streiht rakke lay ther the kyng of pees. 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. lxxxiii. 61 The Calfe..forthwith ete haye with the dame at the Racke. 1540–54 Croke xiii. Ps. (Percy Soc.) 9 Bynde fast theire iawes vp to the racke. 1607 Markham Caval. iii. (1617) 21 You shall put into his racke a..bottle of hay. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 606 Salt Herbage for the fodd'ring Rack provide. 1781 Cowper Charity 173 He breaks the cord that held him at the rack. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities ii. ix, The horses in the stables rattled at their racks. 1886 C. Scott Sheep-Farming 65 A rack nine feet long will accommodate twenty sheep... Whenever the racks are taken out to the fields [etc.]. |
b. Coupled with manger.
| 1391 Earl Derby's Exped. (Camden) 205 Pro factura de rakks et mangers in diuersis stabulis. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 610 in Babees Bk., Euery horse schalle so muche haue, At racke and manger. c 1475 Partenay 913 Both rekke and manger at their ease gan make. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 35 A racke and a manger, good litter and haie. 1707 Ld. Raby in Hearne Collect. 14 Sept. (O.H.S.) II. 42 His Horses stand..w{supt}{suph}out either Racks or Mangers. 1868 Regul. & Ord. Army §570 To prevent infection from glanders..the rack and manger are to be scoured. |
| fig. 1577 Harrison England ii. ii. (1877) i. 44 Canturburie was said to be the higher racke, but Winchester..to be the better mangier. |
c. Phr. at rack and manger: in the midst of abundance or plenty, wanting for nothing. † Also rarely without prep. (Cf. heck n.1 3.)
| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 435 It is yuel to kepe a wast hors in a stable..but it is worse to have a womman wiþ-ynne or wiþ-oute at racke & at manger. 1592 Warner Alb. Eng. viii. xli. (1612) 200 A Queane coriuall with a Queene? Nay kept at Racke and Manger? 1593 Bacchus Bountie in Harl. Misc. (1809) II. 275 Plaine rack and manger, where euery one dranke himself out of danger. 1679 A. Behn Feign'd Curtizan iii. i, Danger,..once o'recome, I lie at rack and manger. 1843 Carlyle Past & Pr. ii. i, John Lackland..tearing out the bowels of St. Edmundsbury Convent..by living at rack and manger there. |
d. Hence rack and manger, want of proper economy or management, waste and destruction. (? Associated with rack and ruin.) Now dial.
| 1687 Miege Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., To leave all at Rack and Manger, laisser tout à l'abandon. 1731 Fielding Grub St. Op. iii. ii, The moment my back is turned, everything goes to rack and manger. 1785 Grose Class. Dict. Vulgar Tongue s.v. Rackrent, To lye at rack and manger, to be in great disorder. 1883 in Hampsh. Gloss. |
e. to stand (or come) up to the rack: to face or bear the consequences of what one has undertaken; to take one's share of hard work or responsibility. U.S.
| 1834 D. Crockett Narrative of Life iv. 61, I was determined to stand up to my rack, fodder or no fodder. 1835 ― Col. Crockett's Tour 69 It was a hard row to hoe; but I stood up to the rack. 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 Open. II. iii. 43 The English used to boast that the Americans wouldn't ‘stand up to the rack’, if the baggonet was set to work. 1890 Stock Grower & Farmer 12 July 4/2 For several years cattlemen have been severe losers but most of them have stood pluckily to the rack. |
4. a. A framework (varying greatly in form as used for various purposes) in or on which articles are placed or suspended.
Freq. with defining word prefixed as bacon-rack, bottle-rack, case-rack, cheese-rack, galley-rack, hat-rack, plate-rack (see the first element).
| 1537 Bury Wills (Camden) 130 The tramely yn the chemney, and the rackes on the soler. c 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon iii, When we haue..set our cheese safely vpon the rackes. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xix. ¶7 Every Stick-full [of letters] is set up upon the Racks, ready for the Dresser to Dress. 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. xxvii. (1737) 120 Having laid their Boots and Spurs on a Rack. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 2/1 A rack fixed to the low roof, and stuck full of drinking glasses and cruet stands. 1869 E. A. Parkes Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3) 323 A wooden rack round the centre pillar receives the rifles. 1871 C. Gibbon Lack of Gold xviii, The dishes on the rack above. |
b. spec. One on which items of clothing are transported and displayed for sale. Phr. off the (or a) rack = off the peg adv. phr. s.v. peg n.1 1 e.
| 1948 H. McClennan Precipice (1949) ii. 189 Shipping clerks pushing racks of women's dresses. 1962 W. Schirra in Into Orbit 47, I acted as a kind of consultant tailor on the pressure suit. It is not possible just to walk in and buy one off the rack. 1976 ‘R. Boyle’ Cry Rape xx. 91, I chose a simple navy shirtmaker dress from the $20-and-under rack. 1976 Times 2 Nov. 12/2 In the women's outfitting department, there was..a scramble around the racks of camel coats. 1978 R. Ludlum Holcroft Covenant xxxiii. 385 His suit was off a rack. |
5. In various special or technical uses.
a. An openwork side for a cart or wagon. ? Obs. b. A framework set in a river to obstruct the passage of fish. c. Naut. (see quots.); also = halyard-rack (halyard 2) and = fiddle 3 a. d. An inclined frame or table on which tin-ore is washed (cf. wreck). e. In organ-building = pipe-rack. † f. Part of a moulding-machine (see quot.). Obs. g. A large, vertical, metal framework, usu. of standardized dimensions, for supporting items of telephonic or electronic equipment and allowing ready access to them. h. U.S. (See quots.) i. N. Amer. A set of antlers. Also attrib. j. U.S. Naut. slang. (See quot. 1962.)
| a. 1593 Hollyband Dict. Fr. & Eng., Bers de chariot, the sides or racks of a wagon. 1687 Miege Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., The Racks of the Cart are broken. |
| b. 1735 Col. Rec. Pennsylv. IV. 24 That Racks are a much greater Obstruction to Navigation than Wears. |
| c. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1776), Rack,..a frame of timber, containing several sheaves, and usually fixed on the opposite sides of a ship's bowsprit. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 171 Rack, a short thin plank, with holes made through it, containing a number of belaying-pins. Ibid. 172 Rack, a long shell, containing a number of sheaves, formerly fixed over the bowsprit to lead in the running rigging. 1841 Dana Seaman's Man. 119 Rack,..a fair-leader for running rigging. |
| d. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1244 The rough [tin ore] is washed in buddles;..the slimes..upon a kind of twin tables, called racks. 1893 Longm. Mag. Feb. 375 note, A mine-girl that works at a ‘rack’, and who separates the particles of tin from the finely crushed ore. |
| f. 1678 Moxon Mech. Exerc. I. 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. |
| g. 1893 Preece & 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... The frame is 7 feet 3½ inches wide and 7 feet 10 inches high. 1930 Proc. IRE XVIII. 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 In the professional world it is common practice for tuners, preamplifiers, power amplifiers, equalizers, etc. to be mounted on slotted panels, which are mounted vertically into racks. Now several domestic manufacturers are also mounting their units in neat vertical racks, but usually they are less than the professional 48cm (19-inch) width. |
| h. 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. Even. Post 20 Dec. 1 Three of the Lackawanna ‘racks’, as the arrangement of piles to fit the ferryboats are called, were left intact. |
| i. 1945 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 27 July 14/1 There is no real means of comparing a rack of antlers killed in Bath County and one in New Kent, unless they are placed side by side. 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. 1971 D. C. Brown Yukon Trophy Trails i. 22 ‘Wow, he's sure got a big rack,’ someone else yelled. 1976 Listener 15 Apr. 466/2 The moose..had a rack of five points, which meant that it was five years old and almost fully grown. 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. |
| j. 1955 C. Kentfield Alchemist's Voyage I. iii. 68 ‘Where's D'Alessio?’ ‘In his rack.’ 1962 Amer. Speech XXXVII. 288 A Marine's bed is not a sack, but a rack. He hits the rack or puts in rack time. 1963 Ibid. XXXVIII. 78 The term rack was borrowed by the Marines from the Navy, and it began to supersede sack as the popular term in Marine speech during the early 1950s. |
6. Mech. A bar, straight or slightly curved, having teeth or indentations on the side or edge, which gear into those of a wheel, pinion, or worm (for the conversion of circular into rectilinear motion or vice versa), or serve to hold something in a desired (and easily alterable) position.
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) 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. 1830 Loudon Cottage Arch. §630 The writing-board, or flap, might be made to rise with a rack and horse. 1881 Young Every man his own Mechanic 238 The inner jaw is immovable and to the bottom of it a steel rack is fastened. |
b. Coupled with pinion.
| 1814 Buchanan Millwork (1823) 85 The rack and pinion should be made upon the principles of spur geers. 1858 Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Phil. 32 Sliding shutters, which are raised and lowered by racks and pinions. 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai ix. 134 Up again, straining on the rack-and-pinion of the Rigi. |
c. Hence rack-and-pinion used attrib., with adjustment, movement, etc.
| 1837 Goring & Pritchard Microgr. 217 Various ingenious contrivances..retaining the rack-and-pinion movement. 1892 Photogr. Ann. II. 283 Rack and pinion focussing. Ibid. 285 Rack and pinion adjustment. 1903 Baedeker's Northern Italy 13 From Capolago to the Monte Generoso, rack-and-pinion railway in 56 minutes. 1958 R. Liddell Morea ii. ii. 55, I took the rack and pinion railway up to Calávryta. 1969 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 23 Mar. 29 Rack-and-pinion steering ‘can be twirled from lock to lock with the flat palm of one hand’. 1972 Modern Railways Sept. 334 This was overcome on the BOB [sc. Berner Oberland Bahn] by the use of rack-and-pinion operation with gradients as steep as 1 in 8. 1973 Country Life 18 Oct. 1172/1 The Haflinger, a forward-control platform truck..seems to wind on inexorably, rather like a rack and pinion train climbing a mountain. 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. |
7. In lace-making: (see quots.). Also attrib.
| 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. 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. xxx. (ed. 3) 296 The introduction of the ‘rack’, which counts the number of holes in the length of the piece. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 733 A 24 rack piece..is now sold for 7s. |
8. a. Abbrev. of rack-deal.
| 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. |
b. = rack-rail in sense 9.
| 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. |
9. attrib. and Comb., as rack-block Naut. (see quot. and cf. sense 5 c); rack-board, one of the boards forming the pipe-rack of an organ (also attrib.); rack-calipers, calipers fitted with a rack and pinion (Knight Dict. Mech. 1875); rack car, (a) a railway-car having open-work sides (cf. sense 3); (b) U.S. Logging: see quot. 1958; rack chain, a chain by which a horse is fastened to the rack in a stall; rack chase Printing, a chase having racked sides into which fit two adjustable bars; rack-compass, a pair of compasses fitted with a rack (sense 6), so also rack-easel; rack-hook, a hooked lever which catches into the rack in the striking mechanism of a clock; rack-hurdle, -hurry (see quots.); † rack lever, a lever terminating in a rack formerly employed in the escapement of a clock; rack-meat, fodder placed in racks for horses; rack mounting vbl. n., the use of the standardized racks for supporting telephonic or electronic equipment; so rack mount n. and v. trans.; rack-pillar, one of the small upright pieces of wood supporting the rack-boards in an organ; rack pole, one of the bars or staves forming a rack (sense 3); rack-rail, a cogged rail, into which a cogged wheel on a locomotive works; rack railway, a railway having a rack-rail laid between or beside the bearing-rails; rack-rod = rack-bar; rack saw, (a) a saw with wide-set teeth (Simmonds Dict. Trade 1858); (b) see quot. 1971; rack-side, one of the horizontal bars of a rack (sense 3); rack-spring, the spring attached to the rack in a clock; rack-stave, one of the upright staves of a rack (sense 3); rack-table = sense 5 d; rack-tail, an appendage to the rack in a clock; rack-tube, a tube (in a microscope) worked by a rack (sense 6); rack-way, (a) = rack-rail; (b) a path through a wood, esp. one used for timber extraction; rack-wheel, a cog-wheel; rack-work, mechanism of the nature of, or containing, a rack (sense 6); rack-yard, a stock-yard provided with racks (sense 3).
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 156 *Rack-blocks are a range of small single blocks, made from one solid. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 557. |
| 1855 E. J. Hopkins Organ 39 Some thin planks of wood, called *rack-boards..laid parallel with, but four or five inches above, the upper boards. Ibid., Through these rack-board-holes the lower and narrrow ends of the pipe-feet pass. 1881 C. A. Edwards Organs 57 The Rack-boards..are frames by which the pipes are supported in a perpendicular position over the upper boards. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1863/1 [Railway-cars] had four wheels, no springs, and no roof; similar cars, termed ‘*rack-cars’, are still in use. 1958 W. F. McCulloch Woods Words 145 Rack car, a railroad car specially equipped with stakes or racks to handle pulpwood. |
| 1828 Darvill Treat. Race horse 55 A *rack-chain may be fixed in the centre of the stall. 1958 J. Hislop From Start to Finish iv. 20 Do not leave your horse tied up by the rack-chain, in your hurry to get away. 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. |
| 1882 J. Southward Practical 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 ― Mod. Printing I. ix. 66 Rack chases..are made to fit the carriage of a press and the bed of a machine. |
| 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 199 The square ‘*rack’ easel which allows the painter greater facility in raising or lowering his picture. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1852/1 *Rack-hook. 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 251 The rack hook is lifted free of the first tooth only at the half-hour. |
| 1770–4 A. Young in A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) III. 145 *Rack-hurdles, which are made..[by] leaving the middle rail out and nailing spars across. 1888 Berksh. Gloss., Rack-hurdles, hurdles of substantial lathing or split wood. |
| 1788 J. Ritson Borrowd. Letter (Cumb. dial.), They feed em [Sea-Nags = ships] wie 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. |
| 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 219 The *rack lever is said to have been invented by the Abbé Hautefeuille. |
| 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 Essays on Construction of Farm Buildings & Labourers' Cottages 23 Many persons consider that the racks are best placed by the sides of the mangers..others, that horses who work hard should have no rack-meat given to them, considering that they satisfy their hunger much quicker..from the manger. |
| 1965 Wireless World July 2 (Advt.), Series ‘Y’ instruments are housed in strong metal cases and, in some instances, can be *rack-mounted. 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. 1978 Chicago June 106/1 Rack mounts, for instance, are ‘in’... These racks will hold pre⁓amps, amps, equalizers, tuners and tape decks. Some can even accommodate a turntable. |
| 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. June 8/2 (Advt.), The 5315B is essentially the same instrument housed in a metal case for rack mounting or stacking. |
| 1881 C. A. Edwards Organs 57 Rack-boards..are supported by *rack-pillars. |
| 1662 Gerbier Principles 32 The *Rack Poles three Inches asunder and upright. |
| 1838 Wood Pract. Treat. Rail-roads (ed. 3) 281 The toothed or *rack rail, was only laid on one side of the road. 1918 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 13/1 See hazardous bridges being built, and the rack-rail employed to surmount steep gradients. 1931 Times Educ. Suppl. 21 Feb. p. iii, An engraving showing a Blenkinsop rack-rail engine and train. |
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 734/1 *Rack Railway. 1895 Daily News 1 Mar. 5/3 Tourists..who ‘do’ the Alps in rack railways. 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. 1931 Times Educ. Suppl. 21 Feb. p. iii, John Blenkinsop, the inventor of the rack railway, died 100 years ago. 1973 C. Bonington Next Horizon xii. 183, I..plunged through the deep powder snow..down to the rack-railway track that led up to Kleine Scheidegg. |
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 360 A pushing rod..that passes behind the *rack rod. |
| 1898 Daily News 8 Feb. 3/5 The *rack saw, with its 50-feet running platform. 1971 F. C. Ford-Robertson Terminol. Forest Science 209/2 Rack saw, a head saw (circular or band) with a travelling table operated by rack-and-pinion. |
| 1830 Loudon Cottage Arch. §1103 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. |
| 1892 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. (ed. 8) 87 If the spring is weak, and the *rack spring strong, it sometimes gives a little. |
| 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Sheep (1627) 202 Their racks to be made..with *rack-staues set nigh together of a good length. a 1639 W. Whately Prototypes i. xvi. (1640) 166 Them that tie their horses to the rack-staves. 1830 [see rack-side]. |
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1245 The slope of the *rack-table for washing the roasted tin ore is 73/4 inches in the 9 feet. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 1852/1 *Rack-tail. 1892 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. (ed. 8) 87 Rack Tail—A frequent source of trouble in some old clocks is the spring tail to the rack. |
| 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 61 So adjusted that its reservoir may be close against the end of the *rack-tube. |
| 1727 D. Eaton Let. 16 May (1971) 120 The *rack ways in Priors Haw are all brush'd up regularly... I was yesterday in Priors Haw whilst Mr. Goods servant was tything the brush-wood that was cut out of the rack ways. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 439 The teeth of the rack-way are of the same pitch as the teeth of a wheel whose axle is in the machine. 1969 Gloss. for Landscape Work (B.S.I.) v. 40 Rackway, a narrow unpaved pathway left or cut through a tree crop to give access and to facilitate the extraction of timber to a wider ride or road. |
| a 1824 A. Scott in Trans. High. Soc. (1824) VI. 33 On the same axis..are fixed the two *rack-wheels, whose teeth will act on the teeth of the racks. 1842 J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 498 This cloth-beam..is furnished with a rack-wheel for the purpose of letting in or winding on the cloth. |
| 1769 Phil. Trans. LIX. 189 My telescope..was..governed by *rack-work. 1861 All Year Round 13 July 369 There was an unusual quantity of rackwork and windlass tackle about. |
| 1772 Ann. Reg. 120/2, 20 horses and 7 cows; the latter in a house or *rack yard. 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Rack-yard, a fold-yard. |
▪ III. rack, n.3
(ræk)
Forms: 5–7 racke, 6 rakke, (Sc. rak, ract), 6– rack; 6–8 wrack. Also 5–7 rake.
[Related to rack v.3, and perh. formed from it in Eng., but cf. also G. recke, more commonly recke-, reck-, or rackbank, a rack for drawing wire, stretching leather, inflicting torture, etc.
An obs. Du. racke ‘tormentum, fidiculæ, equuleus’ is alleged by Kilian, but its genuineness is doubtful, esp. as Kilian also cites the Eng. word.]
1. An instrument of torture formerly in use, consisting (usually) of a frame having a roller at each end; the victim was fastened to these by the wrists and ankles, and had the joints of his limbs stretched by their rotation. (See also quot. 1632.)
| c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxiii. 88 He wold haue turnyd an othere croke Myght he haue had the rake. 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 24 Your hows shal be byseged al aboute and ther shal be made to fore it galowes and racke. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 312 Streight waies was he put upon the Racke, and examined by torture. 1581 Campion in Confer. i. (1584) C i b, He..had bene twise on the Racke, and..racking was more grieuous then hanging. 1632 Lithgow 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. a 1711 Ken Blandina Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 520 Then on the Rack the Saint they stretch, Her Limbs with Screws and Pulleys retch. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) I. iii. 148 The rack seldom stood idle in the Tower for all the latter part of Elizabeth's reign. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 281 The rack which bore the name of the duke of Exeter's daughter. |
| Phr. 1587 Holinshed Chron. III. 1326/2 The chiefe matter..is as yet vnreuealed, and come racke, come rope, neuer shall that be discouered. |
b. transf. and fig. That which (rarely one who) causes acute suffering, physical or mental; also, the result produced by this; intense pain or suffering.
| 1591 Greene Maidens Dr. xxxvi, Her outward woes betrayed her inward rack. 1607 Dekker Knt.'s Conjur. (1842) p. vi, They that haue once or twice lyen vpon the rack of publicke censure. a 1641 Suckling Goblins v. (1646) 55 What a racke have I within me to see you suffer. 1718 Prior Power 142 The gout's fierce rack, the burning fever's rage. 1792 S. Rogers Pleas. Mem. ii. 49 The racks of thought, and freezings of despair. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey iv. iv, There is yet an intellectual rack of which few dream. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair vi, What is the rack in the punch, at night, to the rack in the head of a morning. |
c. Phr. on the rack: In a state of acute physical or mental suffering; in keen anxiety or suspense.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 25 Let me choose, For as I am, I liue vpon the racke. 1668 Temple Lett., Marq. de Castel Rodrigo Wks. 1731 II. 116 To see him keep us three or four Days on the Rack till the Affair was just breaking. 1711 Addison Spect. 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 Kinglake Crimea (1876) I. vii. 104 When for some time men's minds had been kept on the rack, it became known [etc.]. |
d. to put or set (faculties, † words, etc.) on the rack, to strain to the utmost. So to be on the rack, to be at full stretch or strain.
| 1606 Hieron Wks. I. 65 My text very naturally, without setting it vpon the racke, occasioneth the vrging of that duty. a 1680 Butler Rem. (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. 1778 F. Burney Diary Aug., They have both worn themselves out by being eternally on the rack to give entertainment to others. 1818 Byron Juan i. clxix, Antonia's skill was put upon the rack. 1856 Hughes Tom Brown ii. iii, Martin's ingenuity was therefore for ever on the rack to supply himself with a light. |
2. A frame on which cloth is stretched. Obs. exc. dial.
| 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. a 1633 Austin Medit. (1635) 281 A Web [is]..sometimes upon the Tenters sidewayes, and sometimes on the Racke endwayes. 1678 Lond. Gaz. 1281/4 Lost..off from the Racks, 24 yards of Cloth. 1886 Elworthy W. Som. Word-bk., Rack, a long upright frame on which woollen cloths are stretched while drying. |
† 3. A windlass or winch for bending a crossbow. Obs.
| 1512 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 36 My bigge crosbowe w{supt} the rakke of it. 1578 Lanc. Wills (1857) II. 60 One crosse bowe w{supt}{suph} the racke to the same. 1630 [see gaffle 1]. 1648 Wilkins Math. Magick i. xiii. 91 The force of racks, which serve for bending of the strongest bows. 1672 [see gaffle 1]. 1687 Miege Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., To set up a Cross⁓bow with a Rack. |
| fig. a 1628 F. Greville Alaham iv. Chorus iv, Your safest racke to winde us up is Loue. |
4. = rack-rent (see also quot. 1688). Now rare or Obs.
| 1605 Sandys St. 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 Armoury 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 Lond. Gaz. No. 5895/3 Of the Value of 1500l. per Annum on the Rack. 1818 Jas. Mill 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. |
5. That which racks or strains; stress of weather; a storm.
| 1806 H. Siddons Maid, Wife & Widow I. 40 These she had preserved amid the frowns of adversity and the rack of wealth. c 1865 W. Whitman Leaves of Grass (1884) 262 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. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as rack-bent, rack-proof adjs.; rack-master, an officer having charge of the rack.
| 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. xxxi. (1737) 127 A..*rack-bent Cross-Bow. |
| 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 Lit. & Biog. Hist. Eng. Cath. II. 397 The rack-master of the Tower, a most cruel torturer of priests. |
| 1654 Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) II. 125 It was to deepe a policy..unless he had bin *rack proofe. |
▪ IV. rack, n.4 Now rare.
(ræk)
[Of obscure origin: cf. rackbone.
Sometimes referred to hreacca, hrecca used to render L. occiput in the earliest OE. glosses, but this is prob. an error for hnecca neck.]
1. a. A neck, or fore-part of the spine, esp. of mutton or pork.
| 1570 Foxe A. & M. 1191/1 A brothe made with the fore⁓part 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. 1630 B. Jonson New Inn i. i, A poor quotidian rack of mutton. a 1648 Digby Closet Open. (1677) 163 Cut a rack of mutton into tender steaks. 1665 May Accompl. Cook 167 To carbonado a Rack of Pork. a 1796 in Pegge Derbicisms (E.D.S.). 1880– In various dial. glossaries. 1964 J. Masters Trial at Monomoy iii. 101 Mary Tolley began to serve the main course, a rack of lamb. 1972 New York 12 June 63 Purée of cold carrot soup, rack of lamb, cauliflower proven{cced}ale. 1974 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 22 Sept. 60/3 (Advt.), Fresh river trout followed by rack of highland lamb. 1977 Time 21 Nov. 44/3 Recently he ordered a hotel restaurant billboard repainted after noticing that the rack-of-lamb dinner on it ‘looked raw’. |
b. At Winchester School: A rib of mutton.
| 1870 Mansfield Sch.-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. A segment of the backbone or os sacrum. Obs.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 899 The marrow concluded within the rackes of the Holy-bone. c 1720 W. Gibson Farrier's Guide i. v. (1722) 65 Their Use is to bend the Racks of their Loins. |
3. a. The bones of a dead horse. b. A horse consisting of ‘skin and bone’.
| 1851 H. Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 181 The bones (called ‘racks’ by the knackers) are chopped up and boiled. 1878 Daily News 16 Sept. 3/1 Among the horses are some fine specimens of racks, that is fleshless horses. |
c. U.S. colloq. rack of bones, a skeleton; an emaciated person or animal. Also rackabone, rackerbone, rack-o'-bones.
| 1804 J. Ordway in Lewis & Ordway Jrnls. Western Explor. (1916) 128 We saw the rack of Bones of a verry large fish. 1854 M. J. Holmes Tempest & Sunshine iv. 58 Turn that old rackerbone of yourn straight round, and turn down that ar street. 1856 G. D. Brewerton War in Kansas xxxi. 314 Indeed she was to all appearances but a mere rack of bones, over whose unpicturesque outline nature had condescended to draw an angular wrinkling of skin. 1877 J. Habberton Jericho Road xvi. 146 Ain't it bad enough to be a good-for-nothin' rack of bones that's no comfort to myself? 1900 Congress. Rec. XXXIII. App. 6 Mar. 117/2 A Western farmer had a college-bred son who went off preaching... He came back with an old rackabone. 1911 J. C. Lincoln Cap'n Warren's Wards ix. 140 If she fell on that poor rack-o'-bones,..'twould be a final smash. 1949 Sat. Even. Post 2 Apr. 97/2 Mount that rack o' bones you call a horse and ride in front o' me. |
▪ V. rack, n.5
(ræk)
[Variant of wrack, wreck in various senses.]
1. a. Destruction; chiefly in phr. to go (etc.) to rack (and ruin).
| 1599 in Fowler Hist. C.C.C. (O.H.S.) 349 In the mean season the College shall goe to rack and ruin. a 1609 Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1841) II. 249 Between Jehu and Jeroboam Solomon's seed went to rack. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 821 A World devote to universal rack. 1782 E. N. Blower Geo. Bateman II. 126 Everything would soon go to sixes and sevens, and rack and ruin. 1859 G. Meredith R. Feverel xxxix, If the world's not coming to rack. 1874 Burnand My Time xxxiii. 346 His academicals..run to..utter rack and ruin. |
† b. A crash as of something breaking. Obs.
| 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 452, I heard the rack as Earth and Skie would mingle. |
2. † a. A wrecked ship. Obs. rare—1.
| a 1658 Cleveland Wks. (1687) 365 Ten thousand Racks, Cast on the Shore of the Red Sea. |
b. What is cast up by the sea; wrack.
| 1882 Ouida Maremma I. 102 Well, go, rake some seaweed together or any other rack of your precious sea that one can burn. |
c. U.S. rack-heap, (a) a heap of wreckage; (b) (see quot. 1958).
| 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life on Miss. xxiii. 258 There was only one boat advertised..a Grand Tower packet... She was a venerable rack-heap, and a fraud to boot. 1889 P. Butler Personal Recollections vii. 72 There were in the river heaps of drift-wood, called ‘rack-heaps’, dangerous places into which the water rushed with great violence. 1892 ‘Mark Twain’ in Sun (N.Y.) 13 Mar. 18/2 Fridolin entered..with a tall skeleton stalking in his rear... The testimony of this wandering rackheap of unidentified bones. 1909 ― Is Shakes. 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. |
▪ VI. rack, n.6
(ræk)
Now only U.S. Also 9 wrack.
[Related to rack v.4, and perh. formed from it.]
A horse's gait in which the two feet on each side are lifted almost simultaneously, and the body is left entirely without support between the lifting of one pair and the landing of the other.
| 1580 Blundevil Horsemanship i. iii. B j b, Their [Turky horses'] trauelling pace is neither amble, racke, nor trot; but a certaine kinde of easie traine. 1607 Markham Caval. ii. (1617) 135 Exercise him..first vpon an ordinarie rack or foot-pace, then vpon a slow trott. Ibid. iv. 5. 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1846/4 A full trust Nag, a good Trot, short Rack. 1832 F. A. Kemble 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. |
| fig. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen lix. 198 All the ease of such a rack will be no other, but..to gallop to the divel. |
▪ VII. rack, n.7
(ræk)
Also 7 racke, raack.
[Aphetic form of arrack: so also G. rack.]
= arrack. fool rack, see fool n.1 Also attrib., as rack-house, rack-punch.
| 1602 Sir J. Lancaster in Purchas Pilgrims iii. (1625) 154 The King..dranke oft to the Generall in their Wine, which they call Racke. 1602–5 E. Scot Ibid. 184 We..draue them into a Racke-house [Margin. Racke house where hot drinks are sold]. 1663 Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. ii. ii. 105 This rack..is often drunk in hot weather. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. iv, Five or six gallons of rack. 1795 Sir J. Dalrymple Let. to Admiralty 11 Their common beverage, water, and rack bad and new. 1821 Byron Juan iv. liii, I would take refuge in weak punch, but rack..Wakes me next morning with its synonym. 1848 [see rack n.3 1 b]. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. ix. 291 Rooker took..a glass of ‘rack’. |
b. (See quot.)
| 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.]. |
▪ VIII. † rack, n.8 Obs. rare—1.
[? Related to rake v.1 Cf. Icel. and Sw. dial. rak rakings.]
A rick.
A doubtful form: ed. 1566 has reake.
| 1574 Withals Dict. 21/1 A ricke or racke of hay, strues. Extruo, to make up in rokes [sic] or rackes. |
▪ IX. rack, n.9
(ræk)
[Of obscure origin.]
The skin of a young rabbit (see quots.).
| 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 Ure's Dict. Arts 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. |
▪ X. rack, v.1
(ræk)
[f. rack n.1 3.]
1. intr. Of clouds: To drive before the wind. to rack up, to clear up, said of the sky (Jam.).
| 1590 [see racking ppl. a.1]. ? a 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Four Plays in One, Tri. Honour iv, Stay, clouds, ye rack too fast. 1631 Celestina xix. 187 Looke on the cloudes and see how speedily they racke away. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. i. 32, I..saw the Clouds rack at an unusual rate. 1812 Scott Rokeby i. i, Racking o'er her [the Moon's] face, the cloud Varies the tincture of her shroud. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle ii. (1858) 63 A thin fleecy shred of cloud racking across the moon's disk. |
| fig. 1626 T. H[awkins] Caussin's Holy Crt. 289 A fayth floating, and racking vp, and downe, like clouds. |
† 2. trans. Of the wind: To drive (clouds). Obs.
| 1596 Edw. III, ii. i, Inconstant clouds, That, rack'd upon the carriage of the winds, Increase or die. |
▪ XI. rack, v.2
(ræk)
[f. rack n.2]
1. trans. To fit up (a stable), with racks. rare—1.
| 1583 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 432 The same stable to be plancked and racked at the charges of this Cytie. |
† 2. transf. ? To feed as at a rack. Obs. rare—1.
| 1659 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 268 They look upon them [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. to rack up. a. intr. To fill a stable-rack with hay or straw before leaving the horse or horses for the night.
| 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 22 Nov. 1775 The hay is meant merely to rack-up with. Ibid. 5 Feb. 1776 On the hills of Surry, the Farmers rack up with straw. 1888 in Berksh. Gloss. |
b. trans. To fill the rack for (a horse).
| 1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Dec. iv. 29 When the Landlord came to rack up the Horse for all Night. 1798 Middleton View Agric. 361 They must be taken into the stable, and..be racked up with tare hay at night. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 232 Pea-haulm is..employed in cart-stables for racking up the horses. 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. 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. |
| fig. 1844 J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. xix, You might have racked yourself up more comfortably. |
c. To fasten (a horse) to the rack.
| 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports 330/2 The lad first racks up his horse, so that he cannot lie down, but can reach his manger. 1886 Elworthy W. Som. Word-bk., Rack up, to fasten up a horse with a short chain so that he cannot lie down. 1886 Sat. Rev. 6 Mar. 327/2 It is stupid of a groom to rack a horse short up while he is feeding. |
d. fig. To chalk up, to notch up; to achieve, to score. N. Amer.
| 1961 in Webster. 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. 1974 E. McGirr Murderous Journey 82 I've got some leave of absence piled up... I would have racked up close on a month. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 16 June 3-c/1 Billings began racking up runs in the fourth and fifth innings, while Missoula managed only one more run. 1977 Time 14 Nov. 25/1 Over the short run the U.N. vote may even have played into the hands of South African Prime Minister John Vorster, who is anxious to rack up a big majority in the country's Nov. 30 elections. 1978 G. Vidal Kalki vi. 139 CBS had racked up a Nielsen rating of 36.3, the highest ever in that particular time slot. 1979 Sci. Amer. Dec. 30/3 She professionally ferries light aircraft (very often Beeches), the number of engines your choice, out of the U.S. to anywhere at all, having racked up almost 350 ocean crossings in 17 years of action. |
4. a. To place (a thing) in or on a rack; spec. in the Oil Industry, to place (lengths of drill pipe) in a pipe rack or derrick.
| 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. 1949 Our Industry (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. Ltd.) (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. A. 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. 1973 J. W. Jenner in Hobson & Pohl Mod. Petroleum Technol. (ed. 4) iv. 120 The floormen..swing the bottom end of the stand away from the table and it is lowered on to the rig floor, at which time the derrickman..pulls the top of the stand over and racks it against the side of the derrick. 1974 BP Shield Internat. Oct. 18/2 The second noise was..the drilling pipe being racked in the derrick. |
b. Mining. To wash on the rack (sense 5 f).
| 1891 in Cent. Dict. |
5. a. To move, extend, etc. by means of a rack and pinion. b. intr. To be moved in this way.
| 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 62 By racking up the condenser for the best light. 1890 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. III. 94 A Double Extension Camera..where the front racks out. Ibid. 295 The camera is racked to a certain distance. 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. |
6. To give (a thing) the form of a rack; to make as a rack.
| 1891 in Cent. Dict. |
▪ XII. rack, v.3
(ræk)
Also 5 rakke, 6 Sc. rak, 6–7 racke, 7 wrack, pa. pple. ract.
[Prob. a. MDu. recken (Du. rekken) or MLG. recken, OHG. recchan (LG. and G. recken) to stretch, draw out, = OE. reccan: see recche.
A MLG. racken is also recorded, and Kilian has racken ‘torquere, tendere, tormentis exprimere’. Cf. also G. racken to vex, torture (Grimm).]
1. trans. To stretch the joints of (a person) by tugging or pulling, esp. with intention to cause severe pain, and spec. by means of a special apparatus (see rack n.3).
| 1433 Lydg. St. Edmund ii. 277 Worthi to been enhangid bi the hals Or to be rakkid with a broke chyne. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 135 Some drowned,..some racked, some hanged on a gybet. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 71 You rack no forrener owtcast, You rent a Troian. 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 467 This they did..to make me beleeue I was going to be rackt againe. 1675 Brooks Gold. Key Wks. 1867 V. 89 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 Scott Demonol. viii. 275 Their mouths were stopped, their throats choked, their limbs racked. 1876 Green Stray Stud. 146 A drummer who had joined in the attack was racked mercilessly. |
| transf. 1835 Lytton Rienzi i. ix, The winds and storms torture and rack the sea. 1875 Maine Hist. Inst. vi. 183 Their country was racked with perpetual disturbance. |
b. To affect with pain similar to that caused by use of the rack. (Said esp. of diseases.)
| 1588 Fraunce Lawiers Log. Ded. q ij b, Which..did yet so racke my raunging heade, and bring low my crased body. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 369 Ile racke thee with old Crampes, Fill all thy bones with Aches. 1674 Abp. Leighton in Lauderdale Papers. (Camden) III. xlvi. 76, I keep not bedd much, nor am..rack't with sharp and tormenting diseases. 1742 Gray Eton 85 This racks the joints, this fires the veins. a 1859 Macaulay Biog. (1867) 138 A cruel malady racked his joints. |
c. To inflict mental pain or torture on (a person); to torture, distract, lacerate (the mind, soul, etc.).
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 226 How haue the houres rack'd, and tortur'd me, Since I haue lost thee? 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iv. ii. 1747 Till with my verses I haue rackt his soule. 1647 Cowley Mistr., Dialogue vii, The Sin Will rack and torture us within. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 98 ¶3 How must she be racked with Jealousy. 1771 Fletcher Checks Wks. 1795 II. 243 O how does..guilty horror rack their breasts! 1838 Lytton Alice 380, I regret no more the falsehood that so racked me for the time. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. iii. xiii, Mr. Fledgeby meant him to be racked. |
† d. transf. To examine searchingly, as by the application of torture. Obs. rare—1.
| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 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. |
† 2. To stretch, pull out, increase the length of (a thing, period of time, etc.). Obs.
| 1463–4 [see racking vbl. n.3]. 1558 Act 1 Eliz. c. 12 Preamble, Certayne..persons..cast the peeces of cloth ouer a beame..and..racke, stretche and drawe the same. 1565 Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 302 Heere perhaps yee will set Faith vpon the Last, and racke her to a larger sise. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage i. x. 48 The Chaldæan Kalendar, which yet they racke higher to fowre hundred three score and tenne thousand yeres. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xiv. 102 He gives them their true dimensions, not racking them for one, and shrinking them for another. |
b. To pull or tear apart, to separate by force, to break up. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Eph. 7 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. 1560 Becon New Catech. iii. Wks. 1564 II. 327 b, They..racke that one tente commaundement into two for to supply the nomber. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 595 Some thinke the putride backe-bone in the grave rack'd..the shape of snakes to take. 1848 A. B. Evans Leicestersh. Words, Rack and Rack up, to break up. ‘Why didn't ye get at it, and rack it up’. |
c. To shake (a thing) violently; to strain; to injure by shaking or straining. Also absol.
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxviii. 93 A dreadful cough, which seemed to rack his whole shattered system. 1865 A. L. Holley Ordnance & Armor 134 To waste no power in racking the whole side of the ship. 1867 Pall Mall G. 27 July 10 We assumed that the American guns specially constructed to ‘rack’ would ‘rack’ as intended. 1873 Symonds Gk. Poets Ser. i. vii. 194 The Erinnyes leap upon the palace of Atreus, and rack it like a tempest. |
d. intr. To undergo stretching, strain, or dislocation. Chiefly Sc.
| 1508 Dunbar Tua mariit wemen 350, I gert the renȝeis rak, et rif into sondir. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 124 Sum gat ane rais gart all hir ribbis rak. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arth. iii. 47 The Earth's grip'd Bowels with Convulsions rack. 1721 Perry Daggenh. Breach 12 The weight of Earth..usually subjects them [Sluices] to rack and settle down at the Foundation. 1825 Jamieson s.v., He has a conscience that will rack like raw plaiding. 1890 Service Notandums 125 Lang or they win this length..their chafts are like to rack wi' the gantin'. |
† 3. To strain the meaning of (words, etc.); to give a forced interpretation to. Obs.
In quot. 1711 with allusion to sense 1.
| 1549 Latimer Serm. Ploughers (Arb.) 17 This is one of the places yat hath ben racked, as I tolde you of rackynge scriptures. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1875) 42 How yo{supu} may seme to force and racke the worde to Chaucers meaninge, I knowe not. 1645 Fuller Good Th. in Bad T. (1841) 21 Grant that I may never rack a scripture simile beyond the true intent thereof. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. ix. 328 The native and naked Letter, which is not to be racked and wrested from its obvious meaning. 1711 ‘J. Distaff’ Char. Don Sacheverellio 4 He racks a Text to make it confess a Meaning it never dream'd of. |
† b. To strain or wrest (law or justice). Obs.
| 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 452 Not racking the lawes to extremitie, but mittigating the rigour with mercy. 1607 J. Davies Summa Totalis I. 4* So, God doth iudge, and neuer Iustice Rack. |
c. To strain, task severely, put pressure upon (the mind, brain, etc.).
| 1583 W. Byrd in Farr S.P. Eliz. (1845) I. 224 Racke not thy wit to winne by wicked waies. c 1680 Beveridge Serm. (1729) I. 193 They rack their brains..they hazard their lives for it. 1713 Steele Guard. No. 47 ¶7 She racked her invention to no purpose. 1768 F. Burney Early Diary 20 May, I have rack'd my brains half-an-hour—in vain. 1831 Society I. 216 Fanny was racking her brains for something to say. 1880 L. Stephen Pope iv. 82 Racking his wits to contrive exquisite compliments. |
† d. To force, constrain to an action or feeling.
| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. v. iii, The court is rackt to pleasure; each man straines To faine a jocund eye. |
† e. To stretch or raise beyond the normal extent, amount or degree (cf. 4). Obs.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 181 My credit..shall be rackt euen to the vttermost. 1603 Florio Montaigne iii. xii. 598 Striving about my ransome, which they racked so high [etc.]. 1618 Chapman Hesiod ii. 22 Hasten thy labours, that thy crowned fields, May load themselues to thee, and rack their yeelds. |
4. To raise (rent) above a fair or normal amount. Cf. rack-rent.
| 1553 Primer Edw. VI, P v b, [That they] may not racke and stretche oute the rentes of their houses and landes. 1598 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. ii. 20 They racke their rents vnto a treble rate. 1657 Trapp Comm. Job xxxi. 39 If I have caused..the poor Rent-holders (by racking their rents) to misse of a subsistence. 1778 Phil. Surv. S. Irel. 311 Racked the rents to a pitch above the reach of the old tenant. 1826 Q. Rev. XXXIV. 214 He racked no rents to maintain the expenses of his establishment. |
b. To charge an excessive rent for (land). ? Obs.
| 1581 Rich Farew. (1846) 11 Landes be so racked at such a rate. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. vii. 751 Yet stand their Farmes already rackt so high, That they have begger'd halfe their Tenantry. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew Wks. 1873 III. 356 What Acre of your thousands have you rack'd? 1766 Museum Rusticum VI. 145 Open fields may be as high racked as inclosures. |
c. To oppress (a person) by extortions or exactions, esp. of excessive rent; to bear hard upon (one's purse, etc.).
| 1584 T. Lupton Dreame Devil & Dives, Wo woorth the time that ever we rackt our tenants. 1594 1st Part Contention (1843) 34 Because I would not racke the needie Commons. 1600 Heywood 1st Pt. Edw. IV, Wks. 1874 I. 69 Oh, good Sir Humfrey, do not rack my purse. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia vi. 210 Here are no hard Landlords to racke vs with high rents. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. x. §122 The declared Delinquents [were] racked to as high compositions. 1791 T. Newte Tour Eng. & Scot. 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 II. 315 Implying that tenants were to be racked to the utmost. |
| absol. 1774 Cumberland in Westm. Mag. II. 600 In vain the steward racks, the tenants rave. 1823 Byron Juan ix. xv, Let this one toil for bread—that rack for rent. |
† d. To extort (money, etc.). Obs.
| 1591 Spenser M. Hubberd 1306 Each place..fild with treasure rackt with robberies. 1622 Fletcher Sea-Voy. i. i, Here lies all..The money I ha' rack'd by usury. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 310 When there is no more to be racked out of the People upon any other Pretence. |
| absol. 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 58 It is neither right, nor honest, to racke, extort, and purloyne from other. |
e. To exhaust (tenants, land, etc.) by exactions or excessive use. Also with out.
| 1778 Family In-compact 6 Her Lands and Tenants almost rack'd. 1850 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XI. ii. 717 Soon after it was enclosed it was racked out by over-cropping. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) II. x. 410 It was thought, too, that they had racked their estates. Ibid. III. xv. 283 Using..their last opportunity of racking out their properties. |
† 5. to rack a horse's wind: to open his lungs. Obs. rare.
| 1607 Markham Caval. iii. (1617) 45 The first chase will (as the Northerne man saies) racke your Horses winde, and so prepare him to his labor. 1614 ― Cheap Husb. i. i. 8 Trauaile moderately in the morning, till his winde be rack'd, and his limbes warmed. |
▪ XIII. rack, v.4
(ræk)
[Of obscure origin: cf. rack n.6 The F. racquassure, by which Palsgr. renders ‘racking’, appears to be otherwise unknown.]
a. intr. Of animals, esp. horses: To move with the gait called a rack. Also trans. with a distance as object.
| 1530 [see racking vbl. n.4]. 1589 Peele Eclogue to Earl Essex xii, His rain-deer racking with proud and stately pace. c 1626 Dick of Devon i. iii. in Bullen Old Pl. (1883) II. 23 Ile..trott up hill with you and racke downewards. 1671 Lond. Gaz. No. 627/4 Bay Gelding..trots and racks. 1829 Sporting Mag. XXIII. 266 There can be little doubt of his having racked a mile in even less than I stated. 1843 Marryat M. Violet xx. 157 No one ever saw him trotting or galloping; he only racks. 1887 E. Custer Tenting on Plains vi. 187 He [sc. a horse] is very affectionate, and he racks a mile inside of three minutes. 1935 H. Davis Honey in Horn xi. 175 He saddled and bridled the mare..and racked out on the road. Ibid. xv. 254 When the wagon went out of sight..he spurred up and racked after it. |
| fig. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Northampton. (1662) 292 He was thorough-paced in all Spiritual Popery..but in secular Popery..he did not so much as rack. |
b. Used transf. of vehicles or of persons. to rack off (Austral.), to go missing, ‘get lost’.
| 1935 Z. N. Hurston Mules & Men i. iv. 95 Pretty soon the log-train came racking along. 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!’ |
▪ XIV. rack, v.5
(ræk)
[ad. Prov. (Gascon) arracar in same sense, f. raca the stems and husks of grapes, thick dregs: cf. obs. F. vin raqué ‘small or course wine, squeezed from the marc or dregs of the grapes’ (Cotgr.).]
1. trans. To draw off (wine, cider, etc.) from the lees. Also with off.
| c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 115 The reboyle to Rakke to þe lies of þe rose, þat shalle be his amendynge. 1519 [see racked ppl. a.4]. 1633 Naworth Househ. Bks. (Surtees) 330 To the cooper for rackinge 2 hogsheades of sack. 1694 Falle Jersey ii. 71 [To] ferment, rack and bottle our Cidar. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece i. v. 275 Rack off your Wine into another Vessel. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 416 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. |
| absol. 1830 M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 303 It will be necessary to rack off from one cask to another. |
| transf. 1683 A. Snape Anat. Horse i. xxviii. (1686) 64 Serving as a Pipe to rack the Urine as it were out of the Bladder of the Young. |
b. fig. in various senses.
| 1653 Gauden Hierasp. 74 Rack him off further, and refine him from the lees of sensual and inordinate lusts. 1696 Brookhouse Temple Open. 17 Christ Racks off his Truth from Vessel to Vessel. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas v. i. ¶73 Every morning I wrote down in my pocket-book such anecdotes as I meant to rack off in the course of the day. 1861 Sala in Temple Bar Mag. II. 302 His speech was of the finest jackeen just racked through a cask of Cork whisky. |
† 2. To empty (a cask) by racking. Obs. rare.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §306 Rack the one Vessell from the Lees. 1703 Art & Myst. Vintners 65 Rack your Cask very clean, and let it remain full of water all night. |
▪ XV. rack, v.6 Naut.
(ræk)
[Of obscure origin: perh. a use of v.2 or v.3]
(See quots.)
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1776), Racking, the fastening two opposite parts of a tackle together, so as that any weighty body suspended thereby shall not fall down, although the rope..should be loosened by accident. 1841 Dana Seaman's Man. 119 Rack, to seize two ropes together, with cross-turns. 1882 Nares Seamanship (ed. 6) 131. |
▪ XVI. rack, v.7 Building.
(ræk)
[var. rake v.3]
trans. To build (a brick wall) by stopping each course a little short of the one below, so that the end slopes (usu. temporarily until the work is completed). Usu. with back. Cf. raking vbl. n.3
| 1873 F. Robertson Engin. Notes ii. 35 In repairing masonry where there is a crack or junction, or where new work is to be connected with old, the adjoining ends should be racked back from each other, as it were in ascending steps, and the resulting wedge-shaped void subsequently built in. 1904 C. F. & G. A. Mitchell Brickwork & Masonry ii. 77 (caption) Angles of walls racked preparatory to building. Ibid. 78 The base of the corner is extended along the wall, and is racked back as the work is carried up. 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. |
▪ XVII. rack
obs. var. rake n.4, v.1 and v.3; obs. north. and Sc. f. reck; pa. tense of reke v. Obs.