racket
racket Lexical Profile
racket Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A lightweight sports implement consisting of a handled frame with an open hoop across which a network of strings is stretched tightly, used for striking a ball or shuttlecock in games such as tennis, badminton, and squash.
"She had her tennis racket restrung before the championship tournament."
A loud, unpleasant, and prolonged noise, commotion, or disturbance.
"The construction crew across the street was making such a racket that we could barely hear each other speak."
An illegal or dishonest scheme for obtaining money, such as through fraud, extortion, or organized crime.
"Federal investigators spent two years dismantling an elaborate protection racket operating in the port district."
• verb
To make a loud, unpleasant clattering noise, or to move about noisily.
"The old freight train racketed along the rusty tracks through the valley."
Word Nuance & Usage
For the sports implement, 'racket' is the standard spelling in both American and British English, though the variant 'racquet' is used in racquetball and occasionally in tennis and squash; 'racket' is the only accepted spelling for the senses meaning 'loud noise' or 'illegal scheme'.
• Rhymes for racket
Word Origin & Etymology
The sporting sense comes from Middle French 'raquette', meaning 'palm of the hand', ultimately from Arabic 'rāḥat al-yad' because early court games were played with the bare palm before netted paddles were invented. The sense meaning 'loud noise' (and later 'fraudulent scheme') is a separate word of 16th-century English origin, likely imitative of clattering sounds.