rake

views updated May 11 2018

rake1 / rāk/ • n. an implement consisting of a pole with a crossbar toothed like a comb at the end, or with several tines held together by a crosspiece, used esp. for drawing together cut grass or smoothing loose soil or gravel. ∎  a wheeled implement used for the same purposes. ∎  a similar implement used for other purposes, e.g., by a croupier drawing in money at a gaming table.• v. [tr.] collect, gather, or move with a rake or similar implement: they started raking up hay. ∎  make (a stretch of ground) tidy or smooth with a rake: the infield dirt is meticulously raked. ∎  scratch or scrape (something, esp. a person's flesh) with a long sweeping movement: her fingers raked Bill's face. ∎  [tr.] draw or drag (something) with a long sweeping movement: she raked a comb through her hair. ∎  sweep (something) from end to end with gunfire, a look, or a beam of light: Greg let his high beams rake the shrubbery. ∎  [intr.] move across something with a long sweeping movement: his icy gaze raked mercilessly over Lissa's slender figure. ∎  [intr.] search or rummage through something: Nina decided to rake through the drawers.PHRASES: (as) thin as a rake (of a person) very thin.PHRASAL VERBS: rake in something inf. make a lot of money, typically very easily: he was now raking in $250 million a year.rake something up/over revive the memory of an incident or period of time that is best forgotten: I have no desire to rake over the past.DERIVATIVES: rak·er n.rake2 • n. a fashionable or wealthy man of dissolute or promiscuous habits.PHRASES: a rake's progress a progressive deterioration, esp. through self-indulgence.rake3 • v. [tr.] (often be raked) set (something, esp. a stage or the floor of an auditorium) at a sloping angle. ∎  [intr.] (of a ship's mast or funnel) incline from the perpendicular toward the stern. ∎  [intr.] (of a ship's bow or stern) project at its upper part beyond the keel.• n. 1. [in sing.] the angle at which a thing slopes.2. the angle of the edge or face of a cutting tool.

rake

views updated Jun 11 2018

rake3 man of dissipated or loose habits. XVII. Clipped form of rakel (XVII), var. of arch. rakehell (XVI), f. RAKE1 + HELL.
Hence rakish2 (-ISH1) XVIII.

rake

views updated May 21 2018

rake1 implement consisting of a comb-like cross-bar fitted to a long handle. OE. raca m., racu fem. = MLG., MDu. rāke (Du. raak), rel. to Goth. ufrakjan stretch out, f. Gmc. base *rak- :- IE. *roĝ- *reĝ- move in a straight line, stretch, repr. also by RIGHT.
So vb. XIII. — ON. raka scrape, shave, rake; also f. the sb.

rake

views updated Jun 11 2018

rake2 (naut.) projection of hull at stem and stern beyond the keel line. XVII. f. rake vb. (XVII) have a rake, incline from the perpendicular; of unkn. orig.
Hence rakish1 (-ISH1) having a smart appearance like a fast-sailing ship. XIX (partly assoc. with next).

Rake

views updated May 23 2018

Rake

colts or mules, collectively ; a row or series.

Examples : rake of coltsBk. of St. Albans, 1486; rake of hutches (a string of horses), 1901.

rake

views updated May 17 2018

rake1 rake's progress a progressive deterioration, especially through self-indulgence, from the title of a series of engravings by William Hogarth (1735), showing the rake's life progressing from its wealthy and privileged origins to debt, despair, and death on the gallows.

Rake

views updated May 14 2018

Rake

RAKE. To fire down the length of a vessel's deck. This is the sailor's equivalent of the soldier's enfilade.

SEE ALSO Enfilade.

rake

views updated May 17 2018

rake2 as thin as a rake (of a person) very thin.
rake and scrape in Black English usage, be extremely thrifty; scrimp and save.
rake over the ashes revive the memory of an incident which is best forgotten.

rake

views updated May 23 2018

rake. Inclination or slope of anything, such as the top of a triangular pediment or a pitched roof.

rake

views updated May 08 2018

rake See PITCH.

More From encyclopedia.com