Rack (rk), n. Same as Arrack.

Rack, n. [AS. hracca neck, hinder part of the head; cf. AS. hraca throat, G. rachen throat, E. retch.] The neck and spine of a fore quarter of veal or mutton.

Rack, n. [See Wreck.] A wreck; destruction. [Obs., except in a few phrases.]

Rack and ruin, destruction; utter ruin. [Colloq.] -- To go to rack, to perish; to be destroyed. [Colloq.] "All goes to rack." Pepys.

Rack, n. [Prob. fr. Icel. rek drift, motion, and akin to reka to drive, and E. wrack, wreck. √282.] Thin, flying, broken clouds, or any portion of floating vapor in the sky. Shak.

The winds in the upper region, which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, . . . pass without noise.

Bacon.

And the night rack came rolling up.

C. Kingsley.

Rack, v. i. To fly, as vapor or broken clouds.

Rack, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Racked (rkt); p. pr. & vb. n. Racking.] [See Rack that which stretches, or Rock, v.] To amble fast, causing a rocking or swaying motion of the body; to pace; -- said of a horse. Fuller.

Rack, n. A fast amble.

Rack, v. t. [Cf. OF. vin raqué wine squeezed from the dregs of the grapes.] To draw off from the lees or sediment, as wine.

It is in common practice to draw wine or beer from the lees (which we call racking), whereby it will clarify much the sooner.

Bacon.

Rack vintage, wine cleansed and drawn from the lees. Cowell.

Rack, n. [Probably fr. D. rek, rekbank, a rack, rekken to stretch; akin to G. reck, reckbank, a rack, recken to stretch, Dan. række, Sw. räcka, Icel. rekja to spread out, Goth. refrakjan to stretch out; cf. L. porrigere, Gr. 'ore`gein. √115. Cf. Right, a., Ratch.] 1. An instrument or frame used for stretching, extending, retaining, or displaying, something. Specifically: (a) An engine of torture, consisting of a large frame, upon which the body was gradually stretched until, sometimes, the joints were dislocated; -- formerly used judicially for extorting confessions from criminals or suspected persons.

During the troubles of the fifteenth century, a rack was introduced into the Tower, and was occasionally used under the plea of political necessity.

Macaulay.

(b) An instrument for bending a bow. (c) A grate on which bacon is laid. (d) A frame or device of various construction for holding, and preventing the waste of, hay, grain, etc., supplied to beasts. (e) A frame on which articles are deposited for keeping or arranged for display; as, a clothes rack; a bottle rack, etc. (f) (Naut.) A piece or frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which the running rigging passes; -- called also rack block. Also, a frame to hold shot. (g) (Mining) A frame or table on which ores are separated or washed. (h) A frame fitted to a wagon for carrying hay, straw, or grain on the stalk, or other bulky loads. (i) A distaff.

2. (Mech.) A bar with teeth on its face, or edge, to work with those of a wheel, pinion, or worm, which is to drive it or be driven by it.

3. That which is extorted; exaction. [Obs.] Sir E. Sandys.

Mangle rack. (Mach.) See under Mangle, n. -- Rack block. (Naut.) See def. 1 (f), above. -- Rack lashing, a lashing or binding where the rope is tightened, and held tight by the use of a small stick of wood twisted around. -- Rack rail (Railroads), a toothed rack, laid as a rail, to afford a hold for teeth on the driving wheel of a locomotive for climbing steep gradients, as in ascending a mountain. -- Rack saw, a saw having wide teeth. -- Rack stick, the stick used in a rack lashing. -- To be on the rack, to suffer torture, physical or mental. -- To live at rack and manger, to live on the best at another's expense. [Colloq.] -- To put to the rack, to subject to torture; to torment.

A fit of the stone puts a king to the rack, and makes him as miserable as it does the meanest subject.

Sir W. Temple.

Rack (rk), v. t. 1. To extend by the application of force; to stretch or strain; specifically, to stretch on the rack or wheel; to torture by an engine which strains the limbs and pulls the joints.

He was racked and miserably tormented.

Foxe.

2. To torment; to torture; to affect with extreme pain or anguish.

Vaunting aloud but racked with deep despair.

Milton.

3. To stretch or strain, in a figurative sense; hence, to harass, or oppress by extortion.

The landlords there shamefully rack their tenants.

Spenser.

They [landlords] rack their rents an ace too high.

Gascoigne.

Grant that I may never rack a Scripture simile beyond the true intent thereof.

Fuller.

Try what my credit can in Venice do; That shall be racked even to the uttermost.

Shak.

4. (Mining) To wash on a rack, as metals or ore.

5. (Naut.) To bind together, as two ropes, with cross turns of yarn, marline, etc.

To rack one's brains or wits, to exert them to the utmost for the purpose of accomplishing something.

Syn. -- To torture; torment; rend; tear.

Rack"a*bones` (rk"*bnz`), n. A very lean animal, esp. a horse. [Colloq. U. S.]

Rack"er (rk"r), n. 1. One who racks.

2. A horse that has a racking gait.

Rack"et (rk"t), n. [F. raquette; cf. Sp. raqueta, It. racchetta, which is perhaps for retichetta, and fr. L. rete a net (cf. Reticule); or perh. from the Arabic; cf. Ar. rha the palm of the hand (used at first to strike the ball), and OF. rachette, rasquette, carpus, tarsus.] [Written also racquet.] 1. A thin strip of wood, having the ends brought together, forming a somewhat elliptical hoop, across which a network of catgut or cord is stretched. It is furnished with a handle, and is used for catching or striking a ball in tennis and similar games.

Each one [of the Indians] has a bat curved like a crosier, and ending in a racket.

Bancroft.

2. A variety of the game of tennis played with peculiar long-handled rackets; -- chiefly in the plural. Chaucer.

3. A snowshoe formed of cords stretched across a long and narrow frame of light wood. [Canada]

4. A broad wooden shoe or patten for a man or horse, to enable him to step on marshy or soft ground.

Racket court, a court for playing the game of rackets.

Rack"et, v. t. To strike with, or as with, a racket.

Poor man [is] racketed from one temptation to another.

Hewyt.

Rack"et, n. [Gael. racaid a noise, disturbance.]

1. Confused, clattering noise; din; noisy talk or sport.

2. A carouse; any reckless dissipation. [Slang]

Rack"et, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Racketed; p. pr. & vb. n. Racketing.] 1. To make a confused noise or racket.

2. To engage in noisy sport; to frolic. Sterne.

3. To carouse or engage in dissipation. [Slang]

Rack"et*er (-r), n. One who makes, or engages in, a racket.

Rack"ett (-t), n. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Mus.) An old wind instrument of the double bassoon kind, having ventages but not keys.

Rack"et-tail` (-tl`), n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of humming birds of the genus Steganura, having two of the tail feathers very long and racket-shaped.

Rack"et-tailed` (-tld`), a. (Zoöl.) Having long and spatulate, or racket-shaped, tail feathers.

Rack"et*y (-), a. Making a tumultuous noise.

Rack"ing, n. (Naut.) Spun yarn used in racking ropes.

Rack"-rent` (-rnt`), n. A rent of the full annual value of the tenement, or near it; an excessive or unreasonably high rent. Blackstone.

Rack"-rent`, v. t. To subject to rack-rent, as a farm or tenant.

Rack"-rent`er (-r), n. 1. One who is subjected to paying rack- rent.

2. One who exacts rack-rent.

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Rack"tail` (rk"tl`), n. (Horol.) An arm attached to a swinging notched arc or rack, to let off the striking mechanism of a repeating clock.

Rack"work` (-wûrk`), n. Any mechanism having a rack, as a rack and pinion.

Ra"cle (rä"k'l), a. See Rakel. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Ra"cle*ness, n. See Rakelness. [Obs.] Chaucer.

||Ra`con`teur" (r`kôN`tr"), n. [F.] A relater; a storyteller.

||Ra*coon"da (r*kn"d), n. [From a native name.] (Zoöl.) The coypu.

Ra*co"vi*an (r*k"v*an), n. [From Racow.] (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect of Socinians or Unitarians in Poland.

Rac"quet (rk"kt), n. See Racket.

Ra"cy (r"s), a. [Compar. Racier (-s*r); superl. Raciest.] [From Race a tribe, family.] 1. Having a strong flavor indicating origin; of distinct characteristic taste; tasting of the soil; hence, fresh; rich.

The racy wine, Late from the mellowing cask restored to light.

Pope.

2. Hence: Exciting to the mental taste by a strong or distinctive character of thought or language; peculiar and piquant; fresh and lively.

Our raciest, most idiomatic popular words.

M. Arnold.

Burns's English, though not so racy as his Scotch, is generally correct.

H. Coleridge.

The rich and racy humor of a natural converser fresh from the plow.

Prof. Wilson.

Syn. -- Spicy; spirited; lively; smart; piquant. -- Racy, Spicy. Racy refers primarily to that peculiar flavor which certain wines are supposed to derive from the soil in which the grapes were grown; and hence we call a style or production racy when it "smacks of the soil," or has an uncommon degree of natural freshness and distinctiveness of thought and language. Spicy, when applied to style, has reference to a spirit and pungency added by art, seasoning the matter like a condiment. It does not, like racy, suggest native peculiarity. A spicy article in a magazine; a spicy retort. Racy in conversation; a racy remark.