WRACK

wrack

(noun) dried seaweed especially that cast ashore

wrack, rack

(noun) the destruction or collapse of something; “wrack and ruin”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Noun

wrack (plural wracks)

(archaic, dialectal or literary) Vengeance; revenge; persecution; punishment; consequence; trouble.

(archaic, except in dialects) Ruin; destruction.

The remains; a wreck.

Verb

wrack (third-person singular simple present wracks, present participle wracking, simple past and past participle wracked)

(UK dialectal, transitive) To execute vengeance; avenge.

(UK dialectal, transitive) To worry; tease; torment.

Etymology 2

Noun

wrack (countable and uncountable, plural wracks)

(archaic) Remnant from a shipwreck as washed ashore, or the right to claim such items.

Any marine vegetation cast up on shore, especially seaweed of the genus Fucus.

Weeds, vegetation or rubbish floating on a river or pond.

A high flying cloud; a rack.

Verb

wrack (third-person singular simple present wracks, present participle wracking, simple past and past participle wrackt or wracked)

(transitive) To wreck, especially a ship (usually in passive).

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.

Anagrams

• crawk

Source: Wiktionary

Wrack, n.

Definition: A thin, flying cloud; a rack.

Wrack, v. t.

Definition: To rack; to torment. [R.]

Wrack, n. Etym: [OE. wrak wreck. See Wreck.]

1. Wreck; ruin; destruction. [Obs.] Chaucer. "A world devote to universal wrack." Milton. wrack and ruin

2. Any marine vegetation cast up on the shore, especially plants of the genera Fucus, Laminaria, and Zostera, which are most abundant on northern shores.

3. (Bot.)

Definition: Coarse seaweed of any kind. Wrack grass, or Grass wrack (Bot.), eelgrass.

Wrack, v. t.

Definition: To wreck. [Obs.] Dryden.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition