▪ I. wrack, n.1
(ræk)
Forms: 1 wræc, 3–5, Sc. 6 wrak, 4 wrac, 4– wrack, 6–7 wracke.
[OE. wræc neut., f. pret. stem of wrecan to drive, etc., wreak v. Cf. wrack n.2, by which the later senses (esp. sense 5) may partly have been influenced; in writers of the 16–17th cent. it is sometimes uncertain which word is intended.
The evidence of rhymes shows that early northern ME. instances of the spelling wrak usually have a long vowel, and belong to wrake n.1]
I. 1. Retributive punishment; vengeance, revenge; in later use also, hostile action, active enmity, persecution. Obs. exc. arch. or poet.
Freq. coupled with words of similar meaning, as war, wrath, wreak, and tending to pass into sense 2.
| c 900 tr. Baeda's Hist. iv. xxv. (1890) 356 Hi..mid þy wiite ðæs foresprecenan wræces slæᵹene wæron. 971 Blickl. Hom. 25 Þæt unasecgenlice wræc & þæt unᵹeendode wite, þæt þon unlædon þær ᵹeteohhod biþ. 13.. Cursor M. 890 (Gött.), Til þat worm vr lauerd þan spack wordis bath of wreth and wrack. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 24 Sic diuisioun may nocht lest rycht lang, But weir and wrak and mekle opin wrang. 1575 Turberv. Venerie 177 And yet can man..Use wracke for rewth! can murder like him best? c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Psalms lxxviii. xix, Now pine and paine conspire With angry angells wreak and wrack to frame. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. ii. 21 There gan he..with bitter wracke To wreake on me the guilt of his owne wrong. 1863 Longfellow Wayside Inn, K. Olaf ii. v, Strange memories crowded back Of Queen Gunhild's wrath and wrack. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 516 Will it bring him back To let loose on the country war and wrack? |
| fig. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 49 Hath he not lost much wealth by wrack of sea? |
† b. In the phr. to do or take wrack (on one).
| 12.. Mem. Ripon (Surtees) I. 91 Tol Tem Sok et Sak with yryn' and with water deme and do wrak. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 1585 Myn hornys [are made] for to take wrak On shrewes, & to putte abak. |
2. Damage, disaster, or injury to a person, state, etc., by reason of force, outrage, or violence; devastation, destruction.
In very frequent use from c 1580 to c 1640.
| c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 5426 The tother [bow], hydouse and ryght blak, Wrought al oonly for the wrak, Ful of knottys. 1412–20 ― Chron. Troy i. 2184 For lak of manhod drawiþ hym euer a-bak; He is so dredful and ferful of þe wrak. 1557 Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 188 The golden apple that the Troyan boy Gaue to Venus.., Which was the cause of all the wrack of Troy. 1561 Norton & Sackv. Gorboduc v. ii, Loe, here..the wofull wracke And vtter ruine of this noble realme! 1581 A. Hall Iliad vi. 120 On this odde knight alacke We neuer shall set eyes againe, this day wil be his wracke. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. ix. 25 Eftsoones the others..on their foes did worke full cruell wracke. 1634 Malory's Arthur i. cxxxix. Ff 2, If he be angry he wil..worke you much wrack in this countrey. 1640 T. Carew Perswasions to love 69 Time and age will worke that wrack Which time or age shall ne'er call back. 1659 Bibliotheca Regia (title-p.), Such of the Papers..as have escaped the wrack and ruines of these times. 1817 Scott Harold i. i, When he hoisted his standard black, Before him was battle, behind him wrack. 1853 M. Arnold Sohrab & Rustum 414 The wind in winter-time Has made in Himalayan forests wrack. 1873 Dixon Two Queens I. 122 While the country was a prey to fire and sword, the Church stood high above the wrack and waste. |
b. In the phr. to bring, go, put, run to wrack (and ruin). Also fig. Cf. rack n.5 1.
In freq. use, esp. with go (went), c 1560–c 1680.
| 1412 Lydg. Chron. Troy Prol. 161 For nere writers, al wer out of mynde, Nat story only, but of nature and kynde The trewe knowyng schulde haue gon to wrak. 1420–2 ― Thebes ii. 2215 Vpon his foon he rolled it [sc. a huge stone] at onys, That ten of hem wenten vnto wrak. 1528 Roy Rede Me (Arb.) 41 What did monkes and fryeres thanne, When masse went thus to wracke? 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus iii. iii. P iij b, He whose shyppe is gone to wracke. 1581 Marbeck Bk. of Notes 70 This Arke..by diuine prouidence..was gouerned from running to wracke. 1591 Spenser Tears of Muses 400 Thy scepter rent, and power put to wrack. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 111 Arezzo beeing by long dissention amongest themselues almost brought to wracke. 1606 G. Woodcock Hist. Ivstine xvi. 67 The greater part of his army..were all put to wrack. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 670 And now all Heav'n Had gone to wrack, with ruin overspred. 1692 R. L'Estrange Josephus, Antiq. v. ii. (1733) 115 All their Affairs went to wrack upon it. 1757 Hume Ess. & Treat. (1777) II. 421 All nature was going to wrack... Gods and men were perishing in one common ruin. 1864 Kingsley Roman & T. ii. (1875) 31 All things were going to wrack. 1876 Browning Pacchiarotto, etc. 129 The man but for whom had gone to wrack All that France saved from the fight. |
| (b) 1577 Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. i. ix. 12 Herod..supposing..his rule to goe to wracke, and ruine. 1577 H. Bull tr. Luther's Comm. Ps. (1615) 287 Whiles all things seeme to fall to wracke and ruine. 1585 Abp. Sandys Serm. 196 Gods familie and the common wealth goe to wracke and ruine. |
c. In other phrases, as † at wrack, in wrack. rare.
| 1592 A. Day Eng. Secretorie i. (1595) 51 When Rome was now at wracke, her Nobilitie spoyled, and her glorie trode vnder foote. 1901 J. Barlow Ghost-bereft 113 Round his gang crashed roof and wall in wrack. |
d. dial. The brunt or consequences of some action. (Cf. racket n.3 4.)
| 1844 W. Barnes Dorset Gloss. s.v., ‘Mind you'll stan' the wrack o't’. 1871– in south. dial. use (Oxf., Berks., Devon): Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. |
3. A disastrous change in a state or condition of affairs; wreck, ruin, subversion. ? Obs.
| c 1400 Found. St. Bartholomew's 49 Where oure dede and purpos ys of the wracke of chastite. 1557 Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 256 A frend no wracke of wealth, no cruell cause of wo, Can force his frendly faith vnfrendly to forgo. 1588 Greene Metam. Wks. (Grosart) IX. 87 Wit oft hath wracke by selfe-conceit of pride. 1591 2nd Pt. Troubl. Raigne K. John (1611) 108 What haue I lou'd but wracke of others weale? 1595 Markham Sir R. Grinvile (Arb.) 42 The wet worlds sacke Swells in my song, the Dirge for glories wracke. 1601 Shakes. All's Well iii. v. 24 The miserie is example, that so terrible shewes in the wracke of maiden⁓hood. 1692 Locke 3rd Let. Toleration x. 281 Toleration then does not..make that woful wrack on True Religion which you talk of. 1823 Scott Peveril xxvii, He that serves Peveril munna be slack, Neither for weather, nor yet for wrack. 1862 Lytton Strange Story II. 159 Have all those sound resolutions..melted away in the wrack of haggard dissolving fancies! |
† b. The ruin, downfall, or overthrow of a person or persons; adversity, misfortune. Obs.
| 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 7727 Lat no man..with hys wordys falsly smyte, Malycyously to make wrak Off hys neyhebour. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 21 Tyrantis settand thair haill purpois and intent vpone mischeiff and wrack of vtheris. a 1586 Sidney Astr. & Stella Sonn. xix, On Cupids bowe, how are my hart strings bent, That see my wracke, and yet imbrace the same? 1595 Markham Sir R. Grinvile lvii, To flye from them..Were to..crush my selfe with shame and seruile wrack. 1625 A. Gill Sacred Philos. i. 119 By sinne there was a generall wrack of mankinde. 1667 Denham Direct. Painter 55 Presuming of his certain wrack, To help him late, they send for Rupert back. a 1699 J. Beaumont Psyche ii. cxxxvii, That smooth-tongu'd Gale whose whispers woke That Wrack which stole on me. |
II. † 4. An instance of suffering or causing wreck, ruin, destruction, etc. Obs.
| 1594 Kyd Cornelia v. i, Amongst so many wracks As I haue suffred both by Land and Sea. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage 609 The new Conquerours..by wrackes testified to the earth, that they had wrecked themselues on her and their enemies. 1630 Lord Banians 33 Thunder and lightning..such as seemed to threaten a finall wracke to the earth. 1632 Heywood 1st Pt. Iron Age i. i, Troy was twice rac't, and Troy deseru'd that wracke. |
† b. A means or cause of subversion, overthrow, or downfall. Obs.
| 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 20 The Syrens song is the Saylers wrack. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, i. ii. 105 And thus I feare at last, Humes Knauerie will be the Duchesse Wracke. c 1611 Chapman Iliad ii. 781 The fool Amphimachus, to field, brought gold to be his wrack. 1613 Day Festivals (1615) ix. 248 How at length might it haue prooved a wrack to his owne Person. 1650 W. Brough Sacr. Princ. (1659) 183 When shall I be delivered from thee, gaol of my soul, and wrack of my salvation. 1682 Cochran in Howie Cloud of Witnesses (1778) 199 Jugling with the Lord..hath been our ruin and wrack. |
5. A thing or person in an impaired, wrecked, or shattered condition. (Cf. wrack n.2)
| a 1586 Sidney Psalms xxxvii. xv, The mann whom God directs,..Though he doth fall, no wrack he proveth. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 366 Young one,..who is this Thou mak'st thy bloody Pillow?.. What's thy interest in this sad wracke? a 1803 in Child Ballads IV. 187/2 O spare me, Clyde's water,..Mak me your wrack as I come back, But spare me as I gae. 1866 Gregor Banffshire Gloss. 204 Vrack,..a broken down person. 1888 Scot. Sermons in Brit. Workman May, Doon gaed the biggin', and unco wrack. |
b. That which remains after the operation of any destructive action or agency; a vestige or trace left by some subversive cause. Also fig.
In later use, esp. with leave, freq. by misapprehension of Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 156, where the reading (altered by Malone to wrack) is racke: see rack n.1 3 b.
| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iv, I am a poore, poore orphant—a weake, weake childe, The wrack of splitted fortune. 1656 Cowley Pindar. Odes, Muse iii. note, Poetry..makes what Choice it pleases out of the Wrack of Time of things that it will save from Oblivion. 1793 Wordsw. Evening Walk 360 No wrack of all the pageant scene remains. 1813 Byron Giaour 1237 The wither'd frame, the ruin'd mind, The wrack by passion left behind. 1878 R. B. Smith Carthage 406 An ancient seat of civilisation..was swept away at a single stroke, leaving hardly a wrack behind. |
† c. A damaged or injured part; damage, impairment. Also fig. Obs.
| 1601 Donne Progr. Soul i. vii, This soule which oft did teare And men the wracks of th' Empire. 1610 J. Guillim Heraldry iii. xvii. 151 With the threeds..[the spider] repaireth all rents and wracks of the same [web]. Ibid., A man carefull of his priuate estate, and of good foresight, in repairing of small decaies and preuenting of wracks. a 1631 Donne Paradoxes (1652) 9 We mend the wrack and stains of our apparel. |
▪ II. wrack, n.2
(ræk)
Forms: 4–5, Sc. 6–7 wrak, 5 Sc. wrac, 6–7 wracke, 6– wrack (9 Sc. vrack).
[a. MDu. (also mod.Du.) wrak neut. (older Flem. wracke, Kilian), or MLG. wrak, wrack (whence G. wrack), = MDa. vrak (Da. vrag) neut., MSw. vrak (wrack, wragh; Sw. vrak) neut., Norw. dial. rak neut., wreck, wrecked vessel, a parallel formation to OE. wræc wrack n.1
Except for its frequent use by southern writers between 1508 and 1690 (cf. the note to wrack n.1), the form is predominantly northern and Scottish.]
1. A wrecked ship or other vessel; a vessel ruined or crippled by wreck. Now dial.
| c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 513 The Constable of the Castel down is fare To seen this wrak and al the shipe he soghte. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 29 She will..split or billage on a Rocke, a wracke. 1636 G. Sandys Paraphr. Ps. xlviii. 76 Blacke Eurus roars, And spreads his wracks on Tharsian shores. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 126 Close by shoar we saw the wrack of that Saique, which stranded the same day. 1692 in Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1880) IV. 594 His ship become a wrak. 1756 in Hist. Coll. Essex Inst. (U.S.A.) V. 158/1 Drowned from the wrack of the sch[ooner]. Ibid., The sea came and washed them over from the said wrack. 1772 A. Lindsay Auld Robin Gray v, But hard blew the winds, and his ship was a wrack. 1862 Longfellow Birds of Passage ii. The Cumberland vi, Down went the Cumberland all a wrack. 1905 Cornh. Mag. Feb. 209 ‘Wracks, man,’ he shouted,..pointing to the double light⁓house,..‘there is no chance of wracks for a puir fisherbody noo’. |
| transf. (of persons). 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 27 Menaphon..espied certain fragments of a broken ship floating vpon the waues, and sundrie persons driuen vpon the shore... These three (as distressed wrackes) preserued by some further forepoynting fate [etc.]. 1594 Shakes. Rich III, i. iv. 24 Me thoughts, I saw a thousand fearfull wrackes: A thousand men that Fishes gnaw'd vpon. 1601 ― Twel. N. v. i. 82 That most ingratefull boy..From the rude seas..Did I redeeme: a wracke past hope he was. |
b. Remnants of, or goods from, a wrecked vessel, esp. as driven or cast ashore; shipwrecked effects or property, wreckage; also in earlier use, the right to have such. Now arch.
| 1428 Excheq. Rolls Scotl. IV. 439 Le wrak cujusdam navis combuste infra portum de Leth. 1452 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 125/1 Invenerunt dictum forestarium custodem de Wrac et Waif infra dictum dominium de Coldingham. 1501 Extr. Aberd. Reg. (1844) I. 428 Ane brokin schip,..quhilk, throw storme of sey, happin to brek, and the wrak of hir come in on the cost of Croudane. 1584 Greene Morando Wks. (Grosart) III. 84 Tis an ill flaw that bringeth vp no wracke. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, i. ii. 165 As rich..As is the Owse and bottome of the Sea With sunken Wrack. 1639 in Maitland Hist. Edinburgh (1753) II. 151/1 All their antient Rights,..with Pit and Gallows, Sack and Soke, Thole, Theam, Vert, Wrack, Waifs [etc.]. a 1662 Heylin Cosmogr. i. (1669) 71 Charybdis is a Gulf..which violently attracting all Vessels that come too nigh it, devoureth them, and casteth up their wracks [ed. 1652 wrecks]. 1670 Dryden Conq. Granada iv. i, My own lost Wealth thou giv'st not only back, But driv'st upon my Coast my Pyrat's Wrack. 1759 Philipott Villare Cant. 11 Witsom were goods driven to the shore, when there had not been for some space any wrack visible. 1883 Whitelaw Sophocles, Antigone 591 Casting up mire and blackness and storm-vext wrack of the sea. 1897 Longm. Mag. Feb. 333 Through the heaped mysteries of waith and wrack, When the long wave from the long beach draws back. |
† c. pl. Fragments of wreckage. Also fig. Obs.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (1912) 350 Who then myselfe should flie So close unto my selfe my wrackes doo lie. |
2. The total or partial disablement or destruction of a vessel by any disaster or accident of navigation; = shipwreck n. 2. Now rare.
| 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 41, I haue in my voyage suffred wrack with Vlisses. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vi. 1 As when a ship..An hidden rocke escaped hath vnwares, That lay in waite her wrack for to bewaile. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 2 Glad that with wracke of ship, and losse of goods they may prolong a despised life. 1648 G. Daniel Eclog v. 331 In a wracke, wee trust A Sayle-yard, or a Planke of broken Chest, To carrie vs. 1673 Dryden 2 Pt. Conq. Granada (ed. 2) iii. 105 As Seamen, parting in a gen'ral wrack, When first the loosening Planks begin to crack Each catches one. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) s.v. Flotson, Jetson, or Goods cast out of the Ship, being in danger of Wrack. a 1879 H. Dewar in Poems of Places, Brit. Amer. 35 In the wrack tall masts would crack. |
b. fig. and in fig. context.
| 1580 H. Gifford Posie of Gilloflowers (1870) 52 Fell Sathan is chiefe rular of these seas: Hee seekes our wracke, he doth these tempestes rayse. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia v. Wks. 1922 II. 150 Yet being imbarqued in the same ship, the finall wrack must needs be common to them all. 1600 Dekker Fortunatus Wks. 1873 I. 114 Ryot sets up sayles, And..Drives your unsteddie fortunes on the point of wracke inevitable. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vi. lii. §7 When Seas did foame..His force effecting with his cares preuented still my wracke. 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. ii. 5 Hee that steeres by that gale, is euer in danger of wracke. 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Rich. II, vii, The greater winds of Faction broke in here, To make a wracke. a 1699 J. Beaumont Psyche i. ccxxxiv, That venturing any longer stay to make, Was but to run upon a certain wrack. |
3. Marine vegetation, seaweed or the like, cast ashore by the waves or growing on the tidal seashore. (Cf. wreck n.1 2, varec 1.)
Also cart-wrack, grass-wrack, kelp-wrack, lady-wrack, sea-wrack.
In first quot. the precise sense is not quite clear.
| 1513 Douglas æneid iii. ix. 34 Rent me in pecis, and in the fludis swak, Or droun law vndir the large seis wrak. 1551– [see sea-wrack 2]. 1650 [Howe] Phytol. Brit. 101 Divers sorts of Sea-Oake, or Wrack. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 71 Herbs..growing commonly upon Stones and Rocks in the Sea: 14. Wrack. 1700 Wallace Descr. Orkney (1883) 42 note, When the sea-weed is driven in greater plenty, all the people..divide the wrack according to the proportion of land they have. 1716 Petiveriana i. 159 Full of small seedy Warts as in our common Wrach or Quercus maritima. 1785 Martyn Lett. Bot. xxxii. 500 Fucus, Wrack, or Sea-weed properly so called, has two kinds of bladders. 1849 H. Miller Footpr. Creat. i. 10 The shores..of the lake were strewed..by a line of wrack, consisting..of marine plants [etc.]. 1855 Kingsley Glaucus 57 The purple and olive wreaths of wrack, and bladder-weed, and tangle. 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss. 78 The farmers grow sea-weed for manure, cutting the wrack periodically... Stones are placed for the wrack to grow on. |
b. Weeds, rubbish, waste, etc., floating on, or washed down or ashore by, a river, pond, or the like; = wreck n.1 2 b.
| 1598– water-wrack [see water n. 29]. 1851 H. Stephens Bk. Farm (ed. 2) I. 396/2 To prevent the wrack floating on the surface of the water finding its way into the sluice. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi i. 14 When we came within five or six miles of the land, the yellowish-green tinge of the sea..was suddenly succeeded by muddy water with wrack, as of a river in flood. Ibid., The wrack, consisting of reeds, sticks and leaves. 1877 V. L. Cameron Across Africa I. 63, I observed wrack of grass and twigs in the branches of small trees.., showing how high the floods..must be at times. |
c. Field-weeds, roots of couch-grass or the like, esp. as loosened from the soil to be collected for burning; vegetable rubbish or refuse found on agricultural lands; = wreck n.1 2 c.
| 1715 Pennecuik Tweeddale 6 [They] will not suffer the Wrack to be taken of their Land, because (say they) it keeps the Corn warm. 1825 Jamieson, Wrack, Dog's grass,..Triticum repens, Linn.; Roxb. Perhaps denominated Wrack, because..it is harrowed out in the fall, and burnt. 1883 Longm. Mag. April 658 Seed has to be sown, turnips have to be thinned and hoed..and ‘wrack’ gathered. 1894 Heslop Northumb. Gloss. 799 Wrack, weeds; especially ‘whickens’ and sea-weed. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as † wrack-ship (= sense 1); † wrack-rich; wrack-threatened, wrack-threatening; also † wrackfree, = wreckfree a.; † wrack-goods [cf. Du. wrakgoederen, G. wrackgut] Scots Law, = sense 1 b; wrack-spangle local (see quot. 1856).
| 1570 in W. Boys Hist. Sandwich (1792) 775 Savyng that we shalbe wrakfree of oure owne goodes whatsoever. 1594 Shakes. Lucr. 590 All which together like a troubled Ocean, Beat at thy rockie, and wracke-threatning heart. 1598 J. Dickenson Greene in Conc. (1878) 138 More deafe..then are the wrack-rich Libique rocks. 1603 J. Davies (Heref.) Microcosmos Wks. (Grosart) I. 38/2 A Sternelesse Shippe..On mightiest Seas, wrack-threatn'd on each syde. 1671 Shetland Docum. in Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. (1892) XXVI. 194 To..secure all wrack and waith goods. 1681 Stair Instit. vii. 76 Our Custome agrees with..other Nations, except in the Matter of waith and wrack Goods. 1693 Ibid. (ed. 2) iii. iii. 420 Where the Wrack ship is, the Owner may be known by Writs in the Ship. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Wrecfry,..wrack-free, exempt or freed from the forfeiture of Shipwracked Goods and Vessels to the King. 1856 Househ. Words 8 Nov. 391/1 Wrack-spangle, the popular name of these things, implies that they deck the sea-weeds as spangles adorn robes. The savans call them Serpulæ. |
▪ III. wrack, n.3
(ræk)
Also 5, 6 Sc. wrak, 6 wracke, 9 Sc. vrack.
[a. (M)LG. or Du. wrak (whence MHG. and G. dial. wrack refuse, rubbish, Da. vrag, Sw. vrak, refuse); see also wrake n.3, wreck n.2, and cf. wrack a.]
1. That which is of an inferior, poor, or worthless quality; waste material; rubbish. Now rare.
| 1472–5 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 156/1 Such [bowstaves] as were called the wrak, not goode ne able to make of but Childern' Bowes. 1492–3 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 249 Reparaciones [on a mill];..pro cariagio le remell et wrak a scaccario usque Viram. 1542–3 Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 9 §4 That no persone or persones doo caste or unlade out of any maner of Ship..any maner of Balaste rubbishe gravell or any other wracke or filthe, but oonelie upon the Lande. 1866 Gregor Banffshire Gloss. 204 Vrack, anything worthless. Ibid., ‘His nout's jist mere vrack.’ 1885 Pall Mall G. 27 March 4 They send anything—the very wrack of towns—instead of the valuable agricultural labourer which we want. |
† b. Sc. world's wrack, earthly ‘pelf’ or ‘dross’; worldly possessions, goods, or gear. Obs.
| c 1480 Henryson Swallow & Birds 307 (Bann.), Our wickit ennemye..evir is reddye, Quhen wretchis in þis warldis wrak do scraip, To draw his nett. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxiii. 10 For warldis wrak but weilfair nocht awailis. a 1568 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Cl.) 223 Quhill..stuffit weill with warldis wrak, Amang my freindis I wes weill kend. a 1586 in Maitland Fol. MS. (S.T.S.) 241 Now he hes gold and warldis wrak lyand him besyd. 1792 Burns My Wife's a winsome wee thing iv, The warld's wrack we share o't, The warstle and the care o't. |
2. An inferior grade of flax. Also attrib.
| 1879 J. Paton in Encycl. Brit. IX. 298/1 Of the lower qualities of Riga flax the following may be named:—Wrack flax, White picked wrack,..Picked wrack flax. Ibid., The lowest quality of Riga flax is..Dreiband Wrack. |
▪ IV. wrack
freq. erron. f. rack n.1 3, 3 b.
| 1794 Mrs. Piozzi Synon. II. 397 Observing how the wrack rides before the wind. 1848 Lytton Harold v. i, The smoke rises..to join the wrack of clouds. 1878 H. S. Wilson Alpine Ascents ii. 57 A filmy wrack wreathes round and upward. |
▪ V. wrack
erron. f. rack n.3 1, 1 b, 1 c.
| 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. v. 3 Euen like a man new haled from the Wrack, So fare my Limbes with long Imprisonment. 1666 Boyle's Orig. Forms & Qual. a 2 Mystical Notions, which put the Understanding upon the Wrack. 1866 Swinburne Poems & Ballads 306 For the pure sharpness of her miseries She had no heart's pain, but mere body's wrack. |
▪ VI. wrack
erron. f. rack n.6
| 1829 H. Murray N. America II. iii. iv. 442 They abhor a trot, and instruct the animal only in a pace and a wrack. |
▪ VII. † wrack, a. Obs. rare.
Also 4 wrac, 6 Sc. wrak.
[a. MLG. wrak, wrack, LG. wrak (whence G. dial. wrack worthless, Sw. vrak-, Da. vrag-), or MDu. wrac, wrak (Kilian wrack, wraeck, Du. wrak), OFris. wrak, wrac base (WFris. wrak shaky): cf. wrack n.3]
1. Of persons: Worthless, base, evil.
| c 1375 Kindheit Iesu 315 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1875) 12 Bote a giw of heorte wrac Alle hise lawes þare he to brac. |
2. Damaged, impaired, injured; unsound.
| 1487 Cely Papers (Camden) 164, iiij last heryng, iij wrack & on rooue; the wrack cost viijli & the roue ixli. 1496–7 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 32 Item, a diaper clothe, wrack, content in lengthe iij yardes di. 1584 Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1882) IV. 343 To devyde the guid and sufficient fische fra the wrak and evill. |
▪ VIII. † wrack, v.1 Obs.
Forms: 3 wracken, 4–5 wrak, 6 wracke.
[Irreg. var. of wreak v. Cf. brack, brak, for break v.]
1. trans. To avenge or revenge (a person, deed, etc.); to punish. Also const. on.
| c 1205 Lay. 20256 Baldulf..þencheð in þissere nihte to slæn þe..to wracken his broðer. a 1300 Body & Soul in Map's Poems (Camden) 338 Merci criende lutel availede, ȝwan Crist it wolde so harde wrac. [1871 Waddell Psalm xviii. 47 The God wha wracks a' right for me.] |
2. To give vent to or wreak (spite, malice, etc.).
| 1635 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 199 The King went to wrack his spite on their corpes. 1644 J. Fary Gods Severity (1645) 21 You..must needs wrack your malice by revenge. 1720 Prior Cupid Mistaken iii, Couldst thou find none other, To wrack [ed. 1709 wreck] thy spleen on? |
▪ IX. wrack, v.2 Now arch. or dial.
(ræk)
Also 5–7 wracke, 6–7 Sc. wrak, 9 rack.
[f. wrack n.2 Cf. wreck v.1]
† 1. intr. To suffer or undergo shipwreck. Obs.
| 1470–85 Malory Arthur viii. xxxviii. 331 One told hym there was a knyghte of kyng Arthur þ[a]t had wrackyd on the rockes. 1596 [A. Munday] tr. Sylvain's Orator 333 The ship happened to wracke, so that the poore man and his daughter saued themselues in a little Island. a 1620 J. Dyke Sel. Serm. (1640) 146 When a Shippe wrackes at Sea, the goods are utterly lost. 1632 Sanderson Serm. 56 We may..cast our wares into the Sea, to lighten the ship that it wracke not. |
| fig. and in fig. context. a 1592 Greene Alcida (1617) C 1 b, Thus selfe-loue..Makes beautie wracke against an ebbing tide. 1596 Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1629) 327 Their Love hath wracked, and from kind love, beene turned to deadly hate. 1616 B. Jonson Forrest iii. 95 God wisheth none should wracke on a strange shelfe. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, 223 Sir, you haue beene saued vpon my coast, I hope you will not suffer mee to wrack vpon yours. |
2. trans. To wreck (a vessel, mariners, etc.); to ruin or cast ashore by shipwreck. Chiefly pass.
| 1562 A. Brooke Romeus & Jul. 1368 Driuen hard vpon the bare and wrackfull shore, In greater daunger to be wract, then he had been before. 1593 Marlowe Edw. II, ii. ii, I feare me he is wrackt vpon the sea. 1596 Bacon Max. & Use Com. Law i. (1636) 44 Goods wrackt..shall be preserved to the use of the owner. 1614 Raleigh Hist-World iii. (1634) 86 They pursuing the victorie, had left part of the fleet..to save those that were wrackt. 1683 Brit. Spec. 86 Most of the Fleet, wrackt that Night by a sudden Tempest, lay split on the Shore. 1699 T. Allison Voy. Archangel 22 Putting provision therein for subsistance, in case we should be forced ashore and wracked. 1755 Johnson. 1838 J. F. Cooper Homeward Bound xxiv, I esteem it a great privilege..to have the honour of being wracked..in such company. Ibid., If she [the ship] had been honorably and fairly wracked. 1871 Palgrave Lyr. Poems 19 The seas..With outstretch'd angry arms..Wracking whole fleets in pride like riven toys. |
| fig. and in fig. context. 1583 Greene Mamillia Wks (Grosart) II. 193 A professed Curtizan, whose honestie and credit is so wracked in the waues of wantonnesse. Ibid. 242 No..tempests of aduersitie shal..wracke my fancie against the slipperie rockes of inconstancie. 1594 Selimus G 3 b, My feeble barke,..while thy foamie floud doth it immure, Shall soon be wrackt vpon the sandie shallowes. 1598–9 B. Jonson Case Altered ii. vii, O! in what tempests do my fortunes saile, Still wrackt with winds more foule and contrary, Then any other northern guest. 1670 Dryden 1st Pt. Conq. Granada iii. (1672) 23 Though wrack'd and lost, My Ruines stand to warn you from the Coast. a 1699 J. Beaumont Psyche i. ccxvii, Till miserably wrack'd, most woful she Quite sinks in this self-torments monstrous Sea. [1897 W. Beatty Secretar x. 77 The wind that drave them..was the same that had wracked..Darnley, and Bodwell.] |
3. To cause the ruin, downfall, or subversion of (a person, etc.); to ruin, overthrow. Also refl.
| 1564 Queen Mary in Reg. Privy Council Scot. XIV. 201 Seing the puir men, awnaris of the saidis ship and guidis, ar..uterlie heriit and wrakkit. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 186 Suppose we suld wrack [1621 wrake] our self, and tyne The feild, and all our kin be hangit syne. a 1586 Sidney Ps. xli. iv, Now he is wrackt, say they, loe their he lies. 1604 A. Craig Poet. Ess. A 4, When Troy was wrackt,..He came... Yet sayd he nought. 1628 Prynne Love-lockes 59 Externall Beautie..betrays and wrackes the Soules of many. 1792 Burns ‘What can a young lassie’ iv, I'll cross him, and wrack him, until I heart-break him. 1810 in R. H. Cromek Remains 27 He'll dance wi' ye, ‘O'er Bogie’, Maiden, and wrack ye. |
| refl. 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars iii. xvi. 47 b, That weake, and enuied if they should conspire They wracke themselues, and he hath his desire. |
b. To render useless by breaking, shattering, etc.; to injure or spoil severely; to destroy.
| 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1310/2 In the towne of Bedford the water came vp to the market place..; their fewell, corne and haie was wrackt & borne awaie. a 1593 Marlowe Dido i. i, Of them all scarce seuen [ships] doe anchor safe, And they so wrackt and weltred by the waues [etc.]. a 1678 Marvell Bermudas 9 Where he the huge Sea-Monsters wracks, That lift the Deep upon their Backs. 1817 Shelley Rev. Islam vii. xxxviii, As if the world's wide continent Had fallen in universal ruin wracked. 1845 A. M. Hall Whiteboy vi. 56 The [castle]..is wracked by the Saxon's breath. 1899 S. MacManus Chimney Corners 252 His queeny bee..was wrackin' an' ruinin' all afore her. |
| transf. a 1586 Sidney Astr. & Stella Sonn. lxvii, Doth Stella now beginne with pitteous eye The raigne of this her conquest to espie? Will she take time before all wracked be? 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iv. i. 97 Eightie odde yeeres of sorrow haue I seene, And each howres ioy wrackt with a weeke of teene. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche iii. cxxxii, The Precedent may dangerous prove, and wrack Thy Throne and Kingdome. |
4. intr. To undergo ruin or subversion.
| a 1586 Sidney Ps. xxxvii. xviii, [Those] who be swarved To ill, both they and theirs shall wrack. 1599 Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 191 Ayde..without which the whole Empire were in daunger of wracking. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xlvi. 56, I smore if I conceill, I wrak if I reveill, My hurt. 1607 J. Carpenter Plaine Mans Plough 89 What gaine these..when they..themselves remaine castawayes, wracking in the depth of hell. |
Hence ˈwracking vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1611 Cotgr., Ruinement, a ruining, *wracking, spoyling. 1642 Vicars God in Mount 13 The utter wracking and worrying of the..holy lambes of Christ. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Naufrageux, *wracking, shipwrack-bringing. |
▪ X. † wrack, v.3 Sc. Obs.
[ad. MLG. wracken (whence G. wracken to sort), to reject, refuse, var. of wraken, wrake v.3]
trans. = wrake v.3
| 1609 in Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1870) II. 284 Ilk last vesetit urackit, jadget and brunt be thame [sc. inspectors]. 1611 Ibid. 326 Anent the mater of the hering and barrells thairof, sufficiencie of pakking and wrakking of the same. |
▪ XI. † wrack, v.4 Obs.—1
(? ad. Du. wraken to make leeway. Cf. G. wrak, wraking, leeway.)
| 1635 L. Foxe in North-West Fox 180 In that distance holding the same course, I had 2 deg. 14 min. to wracke upon, and within one point at most of my paralell. |
▪ XII. wrack
freq. erron. f. rack v.3
| 1553–5 Latimer in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) III. App. xxxv. 98 The Martyrs in the old Time were wracked. 1622 Fletcher Sea Voy. i. i, The Money I ha wrackt by usury. a 1637 B. Jonson Discov. Wks. (1641) 118 Doubtfull writing hath wrackt mee beyond my patience. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. To Rdr., As the one had wrackt and limm'd my thoughts, with endless tenters. 1683 Cave Ecclesiastici, Eusebius 33 The Church rather expounds the Opinion..into a favourable sence, than nicely weighs and wracks their words. 1720 Welton Suffer. Son of God II. xiv. 370 What great Concern wracks the Spirit of a faithful Servant of God. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. II. ii. xiv. 353 Landlords had now so wracked their rents. 1756 Monitor No. 72 II. 197 If they wrack their brains..to find out [etc.]. 1785 Burns Scotch Drink i, Let..Crabbit names an' stories wrack us, An' grate our lug. 1895 Parkhurst in Advance (Chicago) 7 Mar. 808/2 Sin..wracks the machinery of the mind. 1898 Daily News 31 Aug. 5/3 They themselves are wracking their busy brains. |
| absol. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. i. 16 A paire of Tribunes, that haue wrack'd for Rome, To make Coales cheape. |