1. rack - Noun
2. rack - Adjective
3. rack - Verb
Same as Arrack.
The neck and spine of a fore quarter of veal or mutton.
A wreck; destruction.
Thin, flying, broken clouds, or any portion of floating vapor in the sky.
To fly, as vapor or broken clouds.
To amble fast, causing a rocking or swaying motion of the body; to pace; -- said of a horse.
A fast amble.
To draw off from the lees or sediment, as wine.
An instrument or frame used for stretching, extending, retaining, or displaying, something.
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.
An instrument for bending a bow.
A frame or device of various construction for holding, and preventing the waste of, hay, grain, etc., supplied to beasts.
A frame on which articles are deposited for keeping or arranged for display; as, a clothes rack; a bottle rack, etc.
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.
A frame or table on which ores are separated or washed.
A frame fitted to a wagon for carrying hay, straw, or grain on the stalk, or other bulky loads.
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.
That which is extorted; exaction.
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.
To torment; to torture; to affect with extreme pain or anguish.
To stretch or strain, in a figurative sense; hence, to harass, or oppress by extortion.
To wash on a rack, as metals or ore.
To bind together, as two ropes, with cross turns of yarn, marline, etc.
Source: Webster's dictionaryIn the old days men had the rack. Now they have the press. Oscar Wilde
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death, The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies, We, the people, must redeem The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers, The mountains and the endless plain - All, all the stretch of these great green states - And make America again! Langston Hughes
He grabbed for the coatrack that stood by the door, ripped the coats off it, and flung the door wide, the rack held above his head like a javelin. On the other side of the door was Jace. He blinked. "Is that a coatrack? Cassandra Clare
Faith and its attendant rituals sound like a good deal, the whole eternal salvation thing, but inevitably they lead to fear, oppression, the rack and flames. Kage Baker
Remember that every guilty compliance with the humors of the world, every sinful indulgence of our own passions, is laying up cares and fears for the hour of darkness; and that the remembrance of ill-spent time will strew our sick-bed with thorns, and rack our sinking spirits with despair. Reginald Heber
The rack can extort a false confession from the innocent. Latin Proverb