Rack vs Rag - What's the difference?

rack | rag |

In lang=en terms the difference between rack and rag

is that rack is to strike a male in the groin with the knee while rag is a prank or practical joke.

As nouns the difference between rack and rag

is that rack is a series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other while rag is tattered clothes.

As verbs the difference between rack and rag

is that rack is to place in or hang on a rack while rag is to become tattered.

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

rag

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . Cognate with Swedish ragg.

Noun

(en noun)

(in the plural) Tattered clothes.

* (and other bibliographic particulars) (Dryden)

Virtue, though in rags , will keep me warm.

A piece of old cloth; a tattered piece of cloth; a shred, a tatter.

* (and other bibliographic particulars) (Milton)

Cowls, hoods, and habits, with their wearers, tossed, / And fluttered into rags .

* (and other bibliographic particulars) (Fuller)

Not having otherwise any rag of legality to cover the shame of their cruelty.

A shabby, beggarly fellow; a ragamuffin.

* (and other bibliographic particulars) (Ben Jonson)

The other zealous rag is the compositor.

* (and other bibliographic particulars) (Spenser)

Upon the proclamation, they all came in, both tag and rag .

A ragged edge in metalworking.

(nautical, slang) A sail, or any piece of canvas.

* (and other bibliographic particulars) (Lowell)

Our ship was a clipper with every rag set.

(slang, pejorative) A newspaper, magazine.

(rfc-sense) (poker slang) A card that appears to help no one.

(rfc-sense) (poker slang) A low card.

Derived terms

* on the rag * lose one's rag * ragwort * smell of an oily rag

Verb

(ragg)

To become tattered.

(Webster 1913)

Etymology 2

origin; perhaps the same word as Etymology 1, above.

Noun

(en noun)

A coarse kind of rock, somewhat cellular in texture; ragstone.

* 2003 , (Peter Ackroyd), The Clerkenwell Tales , page 1:

the three walls around the garden, each one of thirty-three feet, were built out of three layers of stone — pebble stone, flint and rag stone.

Verb

(ragg)

To break (ore) into lumps for sorting.

To cut or dress roughly, as a grindstone.

Etymology 3

Origin uncertain.

Verb

(ragg)

To scold or rail at; to rate; to tease; to torment; to banter.

To drive a car or another vehicle in a hard, fast or unsympathetic manner.

To tease or torment, especially at a university; to bully, to haze.

Derived terms

* rag the puck * rag on

Noun

(en noun)

(dated) A prank or practical joke.

(UK, Ireland) A society run by university students for the purpose of charitable fundraising.

Derived terms

* rag day * rag week

Etymology 4

Perhaps from (ragged). Compare later (ragtime).

Noun

(en noun)

(obsolete, US) An informal dance party featuring music played by African-American string bands.

A ragtime song, dance or piece of music.

Anagrams

References

* Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ISBN 978-1880069523 ----