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.

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.

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.

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

colts or mules, collectively ; a row or series.

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