wreck

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of wrecking or the state of being wrecked; destruction.
2. n. Accidental destruction of a ship; a shipwreck.
3. n. The stranded hulk of a severely damaged ship.
4. n. Fragments of a ship or its cargo cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck; wreckage.
5. n. The remains of something that has been wrecked or ruined.
6. n. Something shattered or dilapidated.
7. n. A person who is physically or mentally broken down or worn out.
8. v. To cause the destruction of in or as if in a collision.
9. v. To dismantle or raze; tear down.
10. v. To cause to undergo ruin or disaster. See Synonyms at blast, ruin. See Usage Note at wreak.
11. v. To suffer destruction or ruin; become wrecked.
12. v. To work as a wrecker.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The destruction, disorganization, disruption, or ruin of anything by force and violence; dilapidation: as, the wreck of a bridge; the wreck of one's fortunes.
2. n. That which is in a state of wreck or ruin, or remains from the operation of any destroying agency: as, the building is a mere wreck; he is but the wreck of his former self.
3. n. The partial or total destruction of a vessel at sea or in any navigable water, by any accident of navigation or by the force of the elements; shipwreck.
4. n. A vessel ruined by wreck; the hulk and spars, more or less dismembered and shattered, of a vessel cast away or completely disabled by breaching, staving, or otherwise breaking.
5. n. That which is east ashore by the sea; shipwrecked property, whether a part of the ship or of the cargo; wreckage; in old Eng. common law, derelict of the sea cast upon land within the body of a country, and not in the possession of the owner or his agents. Wreck, or more fully wreck of the sea, was at common law applied only to wrecked property cast by the sea upon the land; and this included things grounded—that is, not floating at the time of seizure, although in a position where the tide would float them again. All such property was originally the perquisite of the crown, or of its tenant the lord of the manor; but in course of time an exception was made of wrecks from which any living thing escaped to land, in which case a presumption that an owner would appear arose and the property was preserved for a year and a day, after which if no claim was established the right of the crown was recognized. Wrecked matter floating was within the jurisdiction not of the common-law courts, but of admiralty, and known as derelict, or derelict of the sea. This too was a perquisite of the crown, claimed under the name of a droit of admiralty. Such matter was classed as flotsam, jetsam, and lagan or ligan (which see). In the United States the right to derelict for which the owner does not appear is in the Federal government; the right to wreck for which he does not appear is in the State to whose coast it comes, subject usually in either case to the right of the rescuer of it to a compensation known as salvage.
6. n. Seaweeds cast ashore by storms; wrack.
7. To cause the wreck of, as a vessel; suffer to be ruined or destroyed in the course of navigation or management: said specifically of the person under whose charge a vessel is at the time of its wreck, and usually implying blame, even in case of misfortune.
8. To cause the downfall or overthrow of; ruin; shatter; destroy; bring into a disabled or ruinous condition by any means: as, to wreck a railroad-train or a bank; to wreck the fortunes of a family.
9. To involve in a wreck; imperil or damage by wreck: as, a wrecked sailor; wrecked cargo
10. To suffer wreck or ruin.
11. n. An obsolete form of wreak.

Wiktionary

1. n. Something or someone that has been ruined.
2. n. The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down.
3. n. An event in which something is damaged through collision.
4. v. To cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.
5. v. To ruin or dilapidate.
6. v. To dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts. (Australia)

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. See 2d & 3d wreak.
2. n. The destruction or injury of a vessel by being cast on shore, or on rocks, or by being disabled or sunk by the force of winds or waves; shipwreck.
3. n. Destruction or injury of anything, especially by violence; ruin.
4. n. The ruins of a ship stranded; a ship dashed against rocks or land, and broken, or otherwise rendered useless, by violence and fracture.
5. n. The remain of anything ruined or fatally injured.
6. n. (Law) Goods, etc., which, after a shipwreck, are cast upon the land by the sea.
7. v. To destroy, disable, or seriously damage, as a vessel, by driving it against the shore or on rocks, by causing it to become unseaworthy, to founder, or the like; to shipwreck.
8. v. To bring wreck or ruin upon by any kind of violence; to destroy, as a railroad train.
9. v. To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.
10. v. To suffer wreck or ruin.
11. v. To work upon a wreck, as in saving property or lives, or in plundering.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an accident that destroys a ship at sea
2. n. something or someone that has suffered ruin or dilapidation
3. n. a serious accident (usually involving one or more vehicles)
4. n. a ship that has been destroyed at sea
5. v. smash or break forcefully