rake

rake¹

noun

1》 an implement consisting of a pole with a toothed crossbar or fine tines at the end, used for drawing together cut grass or leaves or smoothing loose soil or gravel.

2》 an act of raking.

verb

1》 draw together or make smooth with a rake.

2》 scratch or scrape with a long sweeping movement.

    ↘draw or drag (something) through something with a sweeping movement.

    ↘sweep with gunfire, a look, or a beam of light.

3》 (rake through) rummage through.

4》 (rake something in) informal make a lot of money.

5》 (rake something up/over) revive the memory of a past time or event that is best forgotten.

Phrases

rake over (old) coals (or rake over the ashes) chiefly Brit. revive the memory of a past event.

rake someone over the coals North American way of saying haul someone over the coals (see coal).

Derivatives

raker noun

Origin

OE raca, racu, of Gmc origin, from a base meaning 'heap up'; the verb is partly from ON raka 'to scrape, shave'.

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rake²

noun a fashionable or wealthy man of dissolute habits.

Phrases

a rake's progress a progressive deterioration through self-indulgence. [from the title of a series of engravings by Hogarth (1735).]

Origin

C17: abbrev. of archaic rakehell in the same sense.

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rake³

verb

1》 set at a sloping angle.

    ↘(of a ship's mast or funnel) incline from the perpendicular towards the stern.

2》 (of a ship's bow or stern) project at its upper part beyond the keel.

noun

1》 the angle at which a thing slopes.

2》 the angle of the edge or face of a cutting tool.

Derivatives

raking adjective

Origin

C17: prob. related to Ger. ragen 'to project', of unknown ultimate origin; cf. Swed. raka.

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rake⁴

noun Brit. a number of railway carriages or wagons coupled together.

Origin

early 20th cent. (orig. Scots and north. Engl.): from ON rák 'stripe, streak', from an alt. of rek- 'to drive'.