/ɹæk/
OriginFrom Middle English wrake, wrache, wreche, from a merger of Old English wracu, wræc (“misery, suffering”) and Old English wrǣċ (“vengeance, revenge”). See also wrake.
- archaic, dialectal, literaryVengeance; revenge; persecution; punishment; consequence; trouble.
- archaicRuin; destruction.
“Therefore, in sign her treasure suffered wrack,
Since Hero's time hath half the world been black.”
- The remains of something; a wreck.
“Lytle was already moaning in shame, fallen back in bed with his hand across his face like he'd just washed up somewhere, a piece of wrack.”
- archaic, countable, uncountableRemnant from a shipwreck as washed ashore; flotsam or jetsam.
- archaic, countable, uncountableThe right to claim such items.
- countable, uncountableAny marine vegetation cast up on shore, especially seaweed of the family Fucaceae.
- countable, uncountableWeeds, vegetation, or rubbish floating on a river or pond.
- countable, uncountableA high, flying cloud; a rack.
“A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of the clouds.”
- UK, dialectal, transitiveTo execute vengeance on; avenge.
- UK, dialectal, transitiveTo worry; tease; torment.
- transitiveTo wreck, especially a ship.
“Nor did the croakers have long to wait. The second night after the drowning of the mate the little yacht was suddenly wracked from stem to stern. About one o’clock in the morning there was a terrific ”
Formswracks(plural) · wrake(alternative, obsolete) · wracks(present, singular, third-person) · wracking(participle, present) · wracked(participle, past) · wracked(past) · wrackt(participle, past) · wrackt(past) · wrack(infinitive) · wrack(first-person, present, singular) · wracked(first-person, past, singular) · wrack(present, second-person, singular) · wrackest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · wracked(past, second-person, singular) · wrackedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · wracketh(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · wracked(past, singular, third-person) · wrack(plural, present) · wracked(past, plural) · wrack(present, subjunctive)