wrecking

Verb

wreck (third-person singular simple present wrecks, present participle wrecking, simple past and past participle wrecked)

1. (transitive) To destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.
   • He wrecked the car in a collision.
2. (transitive) To ruin or dilapidate.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To plunder goods from wrecked ships.
4. (Australia, transitive) To dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts.
5. (transitive) To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.
   • Weak and envy'd, if they should conspire, / They wreck themselves, and he hath his Desire.1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson...
6. (intransitive) To be involved in a wreck; to be damaged or destroyed.
   • […] Mrs. Marleen Ketchum was not quite certain if the train wrecked or if the volcano blew its top. It took a moment before she was certain it had to be the passenger train.2020, Marti Talbott, McShane's Bride, page 112

See all 12 meanings of wreck