razing, wrecking
(noun) the event of a structure being completely demolished and leveled
Source: WordNet® 3.1
wrecking
present participle of wreck
wrecking (plural wreckings)
The act by which something is wrecked.
The taking of valuables from a shipwreck close to the shore.
Source: Wiktionary
Wreck"ing,
Definition: a. & n. from Wreck, v. Wrecking car (Railway), a car fitted up with apparatus and implements for removing the wreck occasioned by an accident, as by a collision.
– Wrecking pump, a pump especially adapted for pumping water from the hull of a wrecked vessel.
Wreck, v. t. & n.
Definition: See 2d & 3d Wreak.
Wreck, n. Etym: [OE. wrak, AS. wræc exile, persecution, misery, from wrecan to drive out, punish; akin to D. wrak, adj., damaged, brittle, n., a wreck, wraken to reject, throw off, Icel. rek a thing drifted ashore, Sw. vrak refuse, a wreck, Dan. vrag. See Wreak, v. t., and cf. Wrack a marine plant.] [Written also wrack.]
1. 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. Hard and obstinate As is a rock amidst the raging floods, 'Gainst which a ship, of succor desolate, Doth suffer wreck, both of herself and goods. Spenser.
2. Destruction or injury of anything, especially by violence; ruin; as, the wreck of a railroad train. The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds. Addison. Its intellectual life was thus able to go on amidst the wreck of its political life. J. R. Green.
3. The ruins of a ship stranded; a ship dashed against rocks or land, and broken, or otherwise rendered useless, by violence and fracture; as, they burned the wreck.
4. The remain of anything ruined or fatally injured. To the fair haven of my native home, The wreck of what I was, fatigued I come. Cowper.
5. (Law)
Definition: Goods, etc., which, after a shipwreck, are cast upon the land by the sea. Bouvier.
Wreck, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wrecked; p. pr. & vb. n. Wrecking.]
1. 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. Supposing that they saw the king's ship wrecked. Shak.
2. To bring wreck or ruin upon by any kind of violence; to destroy, as a railroad train.
3. To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on. Weak and envied, if they should conspire, They wreck themselves. Daniel.
Wreck, v. i.
1. To suffer wreck or ruin. Milton.
2. To work upon a wreck, as in saving property or lives, or in plundering.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
22 February 2025
(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ‘the father of the bride’ instead of ‘the bride’s father’
Contrary to popular belief, coffee beans are not technically beans. They are referred to as such because of their resemblance to legumes. A coffee bean is a seed of the Coffea plant and the source for coffee. It is the pit inside the red or purple fruit, often referred to as a cherry. Just like ordinary cherries, the coffee fruit is also a so-called stone fruit.
