Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Destruction or ruin.
- n. A remnant or vestige of something destroyed.
- n. Wreckage, especially of a ship cast ashore.
- n. Chiefly British Violent destruction of a building or vehicle.
- n. Dried seaweed.
- n. Marine vegetation, especially kelp.
- v. To cause the ruin of; wreck.
- v. To be wrecked.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. That which is cast ashore by the waves. Specifically
- n. The destruction of a ship by winds or rocks or by the force of the waves; shipwreck. See wreck.
- n. Destruction; ruin.
- To destroy; make shipwreck of; wreck.
- n. A variant of rack.
- An obsolete misspelling of rack.
Wiktionary
- n. archaic or literary revenge, persecution
- n. archaic, except in dialects ruin, destruction
- n. the remains; a wreck
- n. archaic remnant from a shipwreck as washed ashore, or the right to claim such items
- n. any marine vegetation cast up on shore, especially seaweed of the genus Fucus
- n. weeds, vegetation or rubbish floating on a river or pond
- n. A high, flying clouds; a rack
- v. transitive to wreck, especially a ship (usually in passive)
- v. Alternative form of rack, to cause to suffer pain etc.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A thin, flying cloud; a rack.
- v. rare To rack; to torment.
- n. obsolete Wreck; ruin; destruction.
- n. Any marine vegetation cast up on the shore, especially plants of the genera Fucus, Laminaria, and Zostera, which are most abundant on northern shores.
- n. (Bot.) Coarse seaweed of any kind.
- v. obsolete To wreck.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the destruction or collapse of something
- n. dried seaweed especially that cast ashore
- n. growth of marine vegetation especially of the large forms such as rockweeds and kelp
- v. smash or break forcefully
Etymologies
- From Middle Dutch (and Dutch) wrak (cognate with German Wrack, Old Norse rek, Danish vrag, Swedish vrak, Old English wræc). Compare Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wrikan), 𐍅𐍂𐌰𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (wrakjan, "persecute"), Old Norse reka ("drive"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English wræc, punishment (influenced by Middle Dutch wrak, shipwreck).Middle English wrak, from Middle Dutch. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Wrack as a noun generally is confined to the phrase wrack and ruin.”
Simon & Schuster: Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage
“I think it's called wrack line because "wrack" is another name for marine vegetation -- a lot of seaweeds have wrack in the name -- but it may also come from wrack as in remnants of wreckage and destruction as in "gone to wrack and ruin.”
“Mr. RAPER sought an assurance that no "wrack" -- which appears to be a term of art in the timber trade -- should be used in the houses to be erected under the Government's new housing scheme.”
“Where the glen lies a’ in wrack, wi’ the houses toom and black,”
“This rack is however a variant of the now defunct word wrack, more usually known to us now as wreck.”
“BTW, in this case I mean "wrack" literally -- a lot of the seaweed was bladder wrack.”
“But next year's turmoil is always lurking around the corner -- and every generation will get a chance to experience some kind of wrack and roll.”
“Not since the Civil War have American cities been subject to the kind of wrack and ruin that total war causes and, of course, no one alive today remembers the Civil War today so Americans have a sanitized view of war (Canadians too, I might add).”
“I racked my brain (Though the phrase wrack your brain is in common usage, rack is the original form.”
“Our faces were concealed by the "wrack" that covered the stones; and the”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘wrack’.
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EN - archaic words
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 328 more...
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Public List: Two by Fives
This is an experiment in public lists--something I've been thinking about for some time. The goal is to create a collection of short, powerful, evocative words.
This is an open list. A...icy, howl, hymn, thorn, fire, vile, mist, blunt, scum, dark, shot, gleam and 221 more...
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Especially
Being a list of words which have "especially" in their definitions.
wringing-machine, especially, device, field, scrip, hit, catch, take, buck, flip, effluvium, proselyte and 107 more...
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phrontistery-w
from phrontistery.info
wyrd, wynd, wyn, wye, wuthering, wurzel, wurst, wurley, wuffler, wrox, wroth, wrongous and 282 more...
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Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 516 more...
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reginaterra's Words
purl, blow, squish, andean, generality, adaptation, lush, pack, filter, acquiesce, abstraction, sweet and 508 more...
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billy shakespeare's guide to good living
hurlyburly, nave, direful, whence, sooth, dwindle, tempest-tost, withal, selfsame, wrack, unfix, recompense and 142 more...
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Zooey's list
cosmology, consummate, demiurge, paradisiacal, reconnaissance, intransigent, otiose, zeitgeist, coalesce, zeitgeber, absolve, abstruse and 105 more...
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tranquill's Words
loquacious, unmitigated, trundle, ephemeral, vociferous, trapezoidal, liminal, obsequious, veracity, squash, onomatopoeia, oscillate and 267 more...
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Lees
Items of little or no value that are left behind by physical or biological processes other than passing through an alimentary canal. See also Valse's Leftovers and reesetee's Hogwash! for other tak...
lees, dross, dregs, orts, debris, jetsam, flotsam, rubbage, rubbish, trash, refuse, junk and 130 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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tomax's Words
legerdemain, yayo, extravasation, wont, faze, coxswain, concomitant, enclave, unguent, rhabdomyolysis, effluent, puerile and 432 more...
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amber words
amber words is the term I use for words that are all but fossilized, in the sense that their use is always in the context of a single expression. Examples include caboodle, dudgeon, umbrage
sanctum, akimbo, amok, riddance, druthers, trove, caboodle, immemorial, blithering, dudgeon, swaddling, askance and 110 more...
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dickcherry's drivel
the words i'm thinking with
doing, boing, going, tincture, pingback, womenswear, jounce, wrack, a, ish, beeswax, thither and 97 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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Collage's Words
subtle, calamity, impale, qat, painterly, piebald, surly, nihilistic, repine, slake, larder, sepulchre and 349 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for wrack.

heypacksees Wrack and ruin, but rack one’s brains. Feb 13, 2012