Rack vs Pack - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between rack and pack

is that rack is dress, skirt while pack is package, bundle, bunch, (unwieldy) bag or pack can be rabble, mob, vermin, rascals.

rack

English

(wikipedia rack)

Etymology 1

See Dutch rekken

Noun

(en noun)

A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other

Any of various kinds of frame for holding clothes, bottles, animal fodder, mined ore, shot on a vessel, etc.

(nautical) A piece or frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which the running rigging passes; called also rack block.

A distaff.

A bar with teeth]] on its face or edge, to work with those of a gearwheel, [[pinion#Etymology 2, pinion, or worm, which is to drive or be driven by it.

A bar with teeth on its face or edge, to work with a pawl as a ratchet allowing movement in one direction only, used for example in a handbrake or crossbow.

A device, incorporating a ratchet, used to torture victims by stretching them beyond their natural limits.

* Macaulay

During the troubles of the fifteenth century, a rack was introduced into the Tower, and was occasionally used under the plea of political necessity.

A cranequin, a mechanism including a rack, pinion and pawl, providing both mechanical advantage and a ratchet, used to bend and a crossbow.

A pair of antlers (as on deer, moose or elk).

A cut of meat involving several adjacent ribs.

I bought a rack of lamb at the butcher's yesterday.

(billiards, snooker, pool) A hollow triangle used for aligning the balls at the start of a game.

See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_%28billiards%29]

(slang) A woman's breasts.

(climbing, caving) A friction device for abseiling, consisting of a frame with 5 or more metal bars, around which the rope is threaded. Also rappel rack'', ''abseil rack .

(climbing, slang) A climber's set of equipment for setting up protection and belays, consisting of runners, slings, karabiners, nuts, Friends, etc.

I used almost a full rack on the second pitch.

A grate on which bacon is laid.

(obsolete) That which is extorted; exaction.

Derived terms

* autorack * bike rack * cheese rack/cheese-rack * gun rack * spice rack * roof rack * toast rack

Verb

(en verb)

To place in or hang on a rack.

To torture (someone) on the rack.

* Alexander Pope

He was racked and miserably tormented.

* 2011 , Thomas Penn, Winter King , Penguin 2012, p. 228:

As the poet Sir Thomas Wyatt later recalled, his father, Henry VII's jewel-house keeper Henry Wyatt, had been racked on the orders of Richard III, who had sat there and watched.

To cause (someone) to suffer pain.

* Milton

Vaunting aloud but racked with deep despair.

(figurative) To stretch or strain; to harass, or oppress by extortion.

* Shakespeare

Try what my credit can in Venice do; / That shall be racked even to the uttermost.

* Spenser

The landlords there shamefully rack their tenants.

* Fuller

They rack a Scripture simile beyond the true intent thereof.

(billiards, snooker, pool) To put the balls into the triangular rack and set them in place on the table.

(slang) To strike a male in the groin with the knee.

To (manually) load (a round of ammunition) from the magazine or belt into firing position in an automatic or semiautomatic firearm.

(mining) To wash (metals, ore, etc.) on a rack.

(nautical) To bind together, as two ropes, with cross turns of yarn, marline, etc.

Etymology 2

(etyl)

Verb

(en verb)

stretch joints of a person

Derived terms

* rack one's brain

Etymology 3

Probably from (etyl)

Verb

(en verb)

To fly, as vapour or broken clouds

Noun

(-)

Thin, flying, broken clouds, or any portion of floating vapour in the sky.

(Shakespeare)

* Francis Bacon

The winds in the upper region, which move the clouds above, which we call the rack , pass without noise.

* Charles Kingsley

And the night rack came rolling up.

Etymology 4

(etyl) rakken

Verb

(en verb)

(brewing) To clarify, and thereby deter further fermentation of, beer, wine or cider by draining or siphoning it from the dregs.

* Francis Bacon

It is in common practice to draw wine or beer from the lees (which we call racking ), whereby it will clarify much the sooner.

Etymology 5

See , or rock (verb).

Verb

(en verb)

(of a horse) To amble fast, causing a rocking or swaying motion of the body; to pace.

(Fuller)

Noun

(en noun)

A fast amble.

Etymology 6

See wreck.

Noun

(en noun)

(obsolete) A wreck; destruction.

* Samuel Pepys

All goes to rack .

Derived terms

* rack and ruin

References

Anagrams

pack

English

Noun

(pack) (en noun)

A bundle made up and prepared to be carried; especially, a bundle to be carried on the back; a load for an animal; a bale, as of goods.

The horses carried the packs across the plain.

A number or quantity equal to the contents of a pack; hence, a multitude; a burden.

A pack of lies.

A number or quantity of connected or similar things; a collective.

A full set of playing cards; also, the assortment used in a particular game; as, a euchre pack.

We were going to play cards, but nobody brought a pack .

A number of hounds or dogs, hunting or kept together.

* 2005 , John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba, The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion?

African wild dogs hunt by sight, although stragglers use their noses to follow the pack .

A number of persons associated or leagued in a bad design or practice; a gang;

a pack of thieves or knaves.

A group of Cub Scouts.

A shook of cask staves.

A bundle of sheet-iron plates for rolling simultaneously.

A large area of floating pieces of ice driven together more or less closely.

The ship had to sail round the pack of ice.

An envelope, or wrapping, of sheets used in hydropathic practice, called dry pack, wet pack, cold pack, etc., according to the method of treatment.

(slang): A loose, lewd, or worthless person.

(snooker, pool) A tight group of object balls in cue sports. Usually the reds in snooker.

(rugby) The team on the field.

Synonyms

(full set of cards) deck

Derived terms

* blister pack * bowl pack * daypack * Duluth pack * eight-pack * expansion pack * fanny pack * froth pack * ice pack * jet pack/jetpack/jet-pack * pack animal * pack ice * pack journalism * pack mentality * pack rat * RAM pack * rocket pack * service pack * six-pack

Verb

(en verb)

(label) To put or bring things together in a limited or confined space, especially for storage or transport.

# (label) To make a pack of; to arrange closely and securely in a pack; hence, to place and arrange compactly as in a pack; to press into close order or narrow compass.

#* (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)

strange materials packed up with wonderful art

#* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

Wherethe bones / Of all my buried ancestors are packed .

# (label) To fill in the manner of a pack, that is, compactly and securely, as for transportation; hence, to fill closely or to repletion; to stow away within; to cause to be full; to crowd into.

#*{{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild

, title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=5 , passage=By one o'clock the place was choc-a-bloc. […] The restaurant was packed , and the promenade between the two main courts and the subsidiary courts was thronged with healthy-looking youngish people, drawn to the Mecca of tennis from all parts of the country.}}

# (label) To envelop in a wet or dry sheet, within numerous coverings.

# (label) To render impervious, as by filling or surrounding with suitable material, or to fit or adjust so as to move without giving passage to air, water, or steam.

# (label) To make up packs, bales, or bundles; to stow articles securely for transportation.

# (label) To admit of stowage, or of making up for transportation or storage; to become compressed or to settle together, so as to form a compact mass.

# (label) To gather in flocks or schools.

(label) To cheat, to arrange matters unfairly.

# To sort and arrange (the cards) in a pack so as to secure the game unfairly.

#* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)

Mighty dukes pack cards for half a crown.

# (label) To bring together or make up unfairly and fraudulently, in order to secure a certain result.

#* (Francis Atterbury) (1663-1732)

The expected council was dwindling intoa packed assembly of Italian bishops.

# (label) To contrive unfairly or fraudulently; to plot.

#* (Thomas Fuller) (1606-1661)

He lost lifeupon a nice point subtilely devised and packed by his enemies.

# (label) To unite in bad measures; to confederate for ill purposes; to join in collusion.

#* 1599 , (William Shakespeare), (Much Ado About Nothing) ,

This naughty man / Shall face to face be brought to Margaret, / Who, I believe, was pack'd in all this wrong, / Hired to it by your brother.

(label) To load with a pack; hence, to load; to encumber.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey

To move, send or carry.

# (label) To cause to go; to send away with baggage or belongings; especially, to send away peremptorily or suddenly; – sometimes with off. See pack off.

#* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

Till George be packed with post horse up to heaven.

# To transport in a pack, or in the manner of a pack (i. e., on the backs of men or animals).

# (label) To depart in haste; – generally with off'' or ''away .

#* (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)

Poor Stella must pack off to town.

#* (1809-1892)

You shall pack , / And never more darken my doors again.

# To carry weapons, especially firearms, on one's person.

To block a shot, especially in basketball.

To wear a simulated penis inside one’s trousers for better verisimilitude.

Synonyms

* stack

Antonyms

* (make into a pack) unpack

Derived terms

* pack away * pack fudge * pack heat * pack horse * pack in * pack off * pack on * pack train * pack up * packer