(racks, racking, racked)
Note: The spelling 'wrack' is also used, mainly for meanings 2 and 3, and mainly in old-fashioned or American English.
1.
A rack is a frame or shelf, usually with bars or hooks, that is used for holding things or for hanging things on.
My rucksack was too big for the luggage rack...
N-COUNT: oft supp N
2.
If someone is racked by something such as illness or anxiety, it causes them great suffering or pain.
His already infirm body was racked by high fever...
...a teenager racked with guilt and anxiety.
VERB: usu passive, be V-ed by/with n, V-ed
3.
If you rack your brains, you try very hard to think of something.
She began to rack her brains to remember what had happened at the nursing home.
PHRASE: V and N inflect
4.
If you say that someone is on the rack, you mean that they are suffering either physically or mentally. (JOURNALISM)
Only a year ago, he was on the rack with a heroin addiction that began when he was 13.
PHRASE: usu PHR after v
5.
If you say that a place is going to rack and ruin, you are emphasizing that it is slowly becoming less attractive or less pleasant because no-one is bothering to look after it.
PHRASE: V inflects [emphasis]
6.
Off-the-rack clothes or goods are made in large numbers, rather than being made specially for a particular person. (
AM; in BRIT, use off-the-peg
)
...the same off-the-rack dress she's been wearing since the night before...
PHRASE: PHR n, PHR after v