rack
rack Lexical Profile
rack Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A framework, typically with rails, bars, hooks, or pegs, used for holding, storing, or displaying articles.
"She hung her wet coat on the wooden rack by the front door and placed her shoes on the shelf below."
A cut of meat, especially lamb, veal, or pork, that includes the rib section and adjoining backbone.
"For the holiday dinner, the chef prepared a roasted rack of lamb seasoned with rosemary and garlic."
A toothed bar or rod that meshes with a pinion or gear wheel to convert rotary motion into linear motion.
"The mechanic inspected the steering rack to determine why the wheel was sticking during sharp turns."
North American A pair of antlers on a deer, elk, or moose.
"The mature bull elk stood at the edge of the clearing, displaying an impressive rack of antlers."
A historical instrument of torture consisting of a rectangular wooden frame on which a person's limbs were stretched by rollers; figuratively, a state of acute mental or physical torment.
"The medieval fortress still preserved the wooden rack once used to interrogate prisoners."
• verb
To cause extreme physical or mental pain, anguish, or distress to someone.
"He was racked with guilt after realizing his careless mistake had delayed the entire research project."
To strain intensely in mental effort or concentration (especially in the phrase "rack one's brains").
"She racked her brains trying to remember the name of the author who wrote the essay."
To place or arrange items in or on a storage framework or stand, or to set up billiard balls in a frame before a game.
"After finishing the experiment, the students washed the test tubes and racked them to dry."
To draw off wine, beer, or cider from the sediment in the barrel after fermentation.
"The winemaker carefully racked the young red wine into clean oak barrels to clarify it."
Word Nuance & Usage
Often confused with its homophone "wrack" in idioms: "rack one's brains" and "nerve-racking" historically derive from "rack" (an instrument of stretching or mental strain), whereas "wrack and ruin" derives from "wrack" (meaning wreckage or destruction).
• Rhymes for rack
Word Origin & Etymology
The sense of a framework or shelf comes from Middle English "rakke," borrowed from Middle Dutch "rec" or Middle Low German "rek," related to "rekken" (to stretch). Other senses represent separate homographs: the meat cut is likely related to Old English "hreacca" (nape of the neck), while the sense of ruin is a variant of "wrack."