Word.ws English Dictionary

racke

racke is the obsolete form of rack.

Meaning of rack

Noun

rack (plural racks)

  1. A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other.
  2. Any of various kinds of frame for holding luggage or other objects on a vehicle or vessel.
    Synonyms:
    luggage rack
  3. (historical) A device, incorporating a ratchet, used to torture victims by stretching them beyond their natural limits.
    • Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack, / Where men enforced do speak anything.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  4. A piece or frame of wood, having several sheaves, through which the running rigging passes.
    Synonyms:
    rack block
  5. (especially, slang) A bunk.
    • Chief Stevens approached my rack and repeatedly ordered me to vacate my rack and report to the working party.2008, Byron L. Smith, Prescription Music, →ISBN, page 33
  6. (broadly, slang, uncountable) Sleep.
    • Do I have to do this now? Like, I really need to get some rack.2009 December 18, 1:00:07 from the start, in Avatar, spoken by Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), 20th Century Fox

See all 43 meanings of rack

Forms of racke

pluralrackes

Questions about racke

What is racke the obsolete form of?
Racke is the obsolete form of rack.

Words near racke in the dictionary

  1. rackan
  2. rackans
  3. rackarock
  4. rackboard
  5. rackboards
  6. racke
  7. racked
  8. racked in
  9. racked off
  10. racked one's brain
  11. racked one's brains

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: racke (page history and authors); rack (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “racke.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/racke. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.