/ɹiːk/, /ɹik/
OriginFrom Middle English wreken, from Old English wrecan, from Proto-West Germanic *wrekan, from Proto-Germanic *wrekaną, from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“push, shove, drive, track down”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with Dutch wreken, German rächen, Swedish vräka; cognate via PIE with Latin urgēre (English urge), and distantly cognate with English wreck.
- transitiveTo cause harm; to afflict; to inflict; to harm or injure; to let out harm.
“The earthquake wreaked havoc in the city.”
“She wreaked her anger on his car.”
“On the Saturday, October 1, the torrential rains began to wreak damage east of Exeter.”
- archaicTo chasten, or chastise/chastize, or castigate, or punish, or smite.
“The police abused their authority to wreak an innocent.”
“The criminal has been wreaked by the Judge to spend a year in prison.”
“Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of seventeen years.”
- archaicTo inflict or take vengeance on.
“their woe / Broods maddening inwardly and scorns to wreak / Itself abroad;”
“So tho' I scarce can ask it thee for hate, / Grant me some knight to do the battle for me, / Kill the foul thief, and wreak me for my son.”
“At heart they hate their horrid fates, and so wreak their poor spite on me who stand for everything they have not, and for all they most crave and never can attain.”
- archaicTo take vengeance for.
“Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain.”
- alt-of, intransitive, misspellingMisspelling of reek.
“She wreaked of liquor. She also wreaked of anger, despair and unsatisfied sexuality, all mixed together.”
- archaic, literaryRevenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.
“VVhat barbarous mindes for grieuance more than needs,
Vnnaturallie ſeeks wreake vpon their Lord,
Their true annointed Prince, their lawfull king:”
“Would that before my death I might but see my son The empery in my stead over the people hold
And rush upon his foes and take on them his wreak, At push of sword and pike, in fury uncontrolled.”
“However, no thought touch'd Minerva's mind, That any one should escape his wreak design'd.”
- archaic, literaryPunishment; retribution; payback.
“Of a surety none murdered the damsel but I; take her wreak on me this moment; for, an thou do not thus, I will require it of thee before Almighty Allah.”
Formswreaks(present, singular, third-person) · wreaking(participle, present) · wreaked(past) · wrought(past) · wroke(obsolete, past) · wreaked(participle, past) · wrought(participle, past) · wroke(obsolete, participle, past) · wroken(obsolete, participle, past) · wreaks(plural)
Source: Wiktionary