rake
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
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.
- 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).
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.
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’.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
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).]
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.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
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.
- 1 the angle at which a thing slopes.
- 2 the angle of the edge or face of a cutting tool.
– derivatives
raking adjective.
raking adjective.
– origin C17: prob. rel. to Ger. ragen ‘to project’, of unknown ultimate origin; cf. Swed. raka.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
rake4
▶noun Brit. a number of railway carriages or wagons coupled together.
– origin early 20th cent. (orig. Scots and northern English): from ON rák ‘stripe, streak’, from an alt. of rek- ‘to drive’.
'rake' also found in these Oxford entries:
