rack

UK/ɹæk/US/ɹæk/

nounB24 meanings Common in everyday speech and writing · #2,880 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: racks, racked, racking

A rack is a frame of bars or shelves for holding things — a cooling rack for cakes, a plate rack by the sink, a bike rack outside the station, the luggage rack over the train seats. Bars with gaps between them, so air gets through and nothing slides off.

A rack of lamb is a whole set of ribs cut in one piece, named after the frame it looks like. The verb is about pain and effort: you rack your brains for a name, you are racked with guilt, a body is racked by coughing. Behind that sits the medieval rack, the frame prisoners were stretched on — the same word. There is a spelling trap here, since rack and ruin and nerve-racking both get written with a w by half the world and nobody agrees. And rack up means to build a total: rack up debts, rack up wins.

Definitions of rack

1nounrackA frame or set of bars for holding, drying or storing things.B2
“She lifted the cake onto a wire rack to cool.”
- Said"Leave the biscuits on the rack until they're cool, or they'll bend."
- WrittenPlates dried on the racks by the window, catching the last of the light.
- UsedSet the tin on a wire rack so air can reach the bottom.
- ContrastA rack, not a shelf. A shelf is a solid board; a rack is bars with gaps, so drips can fall through. shelf →
- Not thisA tray is not a rack. Things sit on a tray; on a rack they hang or drip.
- SimplyPut the wet cups on the rack. They dry there.
Patterna drying / cooling / wine / spice rack · put sth on a rack · rack of lamb
2verbcauseTo cause someone severe physical or mental pain.C1
“He was racked with guilt for weeks afterwards.”
3nounonceA frame once used to torture people by stretching their bodies.C1
“The rack stands in a corner of the castle museum.”
4nounjointA joint of meat containing several ribs in one piece.C1
“She ordered the rack of lamb and finished all of it.”

rack is a frame for holding things.

Remember it

RACK → the plates stand BACK to back

Wash the plates and stand them up in the rack: a row of bars holding them, back to back, until they are dry.

hooks ontoback

Phrases it lives in

rack your brains — think very hard to remember or work something out
rack up — collect a growing total of something
go to rack and ruin — fall apart through neglect

Where it comes from

Rack came in from Dutch: Middle English rakke, from Middle Dutch rec, which is rek in the Netherlands today, standing beside the verb rekken. Follow it further back and you reach a Proto-Indo-European root *h₃reǵ-. The cooling shelf in a kitchen and the stretching frame in a dungeon are one word in English, which is why racked with pain still sounds so physical.

Proto-Indo-European
*h₃reǵ-
Middle Dutch
rac
Middle English
rakke
English, today
rack

From Middle English rakke, rekke, from Middle Dutch rac, recke, rec (Dutch rek), see rekken.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Definitions of rack

1nounrackA frame or set of bars for holding, drying or storing things.B2

“She lifted the cake onto a wire rack to cool.”

Said"Leave the biscuits on the rack until they're cool, or they'll bend."
WrittenPlates dried on the racks by the window, catching the last of the light.
UsedSet the tin on a wire rack so air can reach the bottom.
ContrastA rack, not a shelf. A shelf is a solid board; a rack is bars with gaps, so drips can fall through. shelf →
Not thisA tray is not a rack. Things sit on a tray; on a rack they hang or drip.
SimplyPut the wet cups on the rack. They dry there.

Patterna drying / cooling / wine / spice rack · put sth on a rack · rack of lamb

2verbcauseTo cause someone severe physical or mental pain.C1

“He was racked with guilt for weeks afterwards.”

3nounonceA frame once used to torture people by stretching their bodies.C1

“The rack stands in a corner of the castle museum.”

4nounjointA joint of meat containing several ribs in one piece.C1

“She ordered the rack of lamb and finished all of it.”

rack is a frame for holding things.