wrack

== English == === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ɹæk/ Rhymes: -æk Homophone: rack === Etymology 1 === From Middle English wrake, wrache, wreche, from a merger of Old English wracu, wræc (“misery, suffering”) and Old English wrǣċ (“vengeance, revenge”). See also wrake. ==== Noun ==== wrack (plural wracks) The remains of something; a wreck. (literary, archaic or UK, dialectal) Vengeance; revenge; persecution; punishment; consequence; trouble. (archaic except UK, dialectal) Ruin; destruction. ===== Alternative forms ===== wrake (obsolete) ===== Derived terms ===== wrack and ruin ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== wrack (third-person singular simple present wracks, present participle wracking, simple past and past participle wracked) (UK dialectal, transitive) To execute vengeance on; avenge. (UK dialectal, transitive) To worry; tease; torment. === Etymology 2 === Late Middle English, from Middle Dutch wrak, ultimately related to Proto-Germanic *wrekaną (“to drive out”), the source of wreak and wreck. Doublet of vraic. Cognate with German Wrack, Old Norse rek, Danish vrag, Swedish vrak, Old English wræc); also compare Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wrikan), 𐍅𐍂𐌰𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wrakjan, “persecute”), Old Norse reka (“drive”). ==== Noun ==== wrack (countable and uncountable, plural wracks) (archaic) Remnant from a shipwreck as washed ashore; flotsam or jetsam. The right to claim such items. Any marine vegetation cast up on shore, especially seaweed of the family Fucaceae. Weeds, vegetation, or rubbish floating on a river or pond. A high, flying cloud; a rack. ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== ==== Verb ==== wrack (third-person singular simple present wracks, present participle wracking, simple past and past participle wracked or wrackt) (transitive, usually passive voice) To wreck, especially a ship. Alternative form of rack (“to cause to suffer pain, etc.”). ===== Usage notes ===== Frequently confused with rack (“torture; suffer pain”), though traditionally means “wreck”. Etymologically, wrack and ruin (“complete destruction”) and storm-wracked (“wrecked by a storm”) are the only terms that derive from wrack, rather than rack. However, in usage, forms such as nerve-wracking are common, and considered acceptable by some authorities; see usage notes for rack. ===== Conjugation ===== ===== Derived terms ===== storm-wracked ===== Translations ===== === References === === Anagrams === crawk