What does wrack mean?
ruin, destruction
1 : ruin, destruction. 2 : a remnant of something destroyed. wrack. verb (1) wracked; wracking; wracks.
Is it rack my brain or wrack?
The spelling ‘rack’ is now used in all senses except for the seaweed called wrack. So it’s “rack and ruin,” … “racking my brains,” and so on. Some other usage guides provide a way of dealing with this question that has a certain brutal charm: just stop using the word wrack.
Can I rack your brain?
to think very hard about something or try very hard to remember it. The old-fashioned spelling ` wrack’ is occasionally used instead of ` rack’ in this expression.
How do you use wrack in a sentence?
How to use Wrack in a sentence. He watched explosions wrack his planet until they rose high enough that the toxic dust storm he’d started marred the surface of the planet from view.
Is wrack a Scrabble word?
WRACK is a valid scrabble word.
What is wracking brain?
Definition of rack one’s brain : to think very hard in order to try to remember something, solve a problem, etc. I’ve been racking my brain, but I can’t remember his name.
Is it racked up or wracked up?
The verb wrack means to wreck or cause the ruin of something. As a noun, rack means a frame, a shelf, an instrument of torture, or a state of intense anguish. The noun wrack means destruction or wreckage. Idiomatically, we may rack the billiard balls, rack up points, and roast a rack of lamb.
Is it racked with pain or wracked with pain?
As such, “wrack” is often accepted as a variant spelling of the verb form of “rack.” For example, we can say “wracked with pain” as well as “racked with pain.” But keep in mind that “rack” and “wrack” are only interchangeable when used as a verb.
Is it rack up or wrack up?
Is frack a Scrabble word?
Yes, frack is a valid Scrabble word.
Where did the saying rack and ruin come from?
In that respect the phrase follows the pattern of beck and call, chop and change, fair and square etc. The term ‘going to wreck’ was the forerunner of ‘rack and ruin’ and was used as early as 1548, in a sermon by Ephraim Udall: “The flocke goeth to wrecke and vtterly perisheth.”
Is Trac a word?
-trac- comes from Latin, where it has the meaning “pull. ” This meaning is found in such words as: abstract, attract, attraction, contract, contraction, detract, distract, distraction, extract, intractable, protracted, protractor, retract, retraction, subcontract, subtract, tract, tractable, traction, tractor.
What is the meaning of wrack?
Definition of wrack (Entry 2 of 6) 1 : ruin, destruction. 2 : a remnant of something destroyed. wrack. verb (1) wracked; wracking; wracks.
What is the origin of the word’wreak’?
Middle English wrake, wrak, going back to Old English wracu (genitive wræce) & wræc “vengeance, persecution, misery,” noun derivatives from the base of Germanic *wrekan- “to drive out, pursue” — more at wreak earlier, “to undergo shipwreck, cast ashore by shipwreck,” derivative of wrack entry 1
What is the origin of the verbs wrack and rack up?
The verbs are often conflated despite their very different origins (the former from Middle Dutch rekken, meaning “to stretch,” and the latter from the Middle English word for shipwreck, wrak ). “Do you rack up or wrack up debts?”
What is the meaning of wrack up debt?
While there are a number of settings in which wrack is considered an acceptable variant of rack, the accumulation of debts is not one of them. In this context rack up typically means “to achieve, score; to accumulate.” First Known Use of wrack Noun (1)