wreck

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
wreck/rek/

▶noun

• 1 the destruction of a ship at sea; a shipwreck.

  ■ a ship destroyed in such a way.

  ■ Law goods brought ashore by the sea from a wreck.

• 2 a building, vehicle, etc. that has been destroyed or badly damaged.

  ■ N. Amer. a road or rail crash.

• 3 a person whose physical or mental health or strength has failed: an emotional wreck.

▶verb

• 1 cause the destruction of (a ship) by sinking or breaking up.

  ■ (as noun wrecking) chiefly historical the practice of destroying a ship in order to steal the cargo.

  ■ archaic suffer or undergo shipwreck.

• 2 destroy or severely damage.

  ■ spoil completely: the eye injury wrecked his chances.

• 3 (usu. as noun wrecking) chiefly N. Amer. engage in breaking up badly damaged vehicles or demolishing old buildings to obtain usable spares or scrap.

– origin ME: from Anglo-Norman Fr. wrec, from the base of ON reka ‘to drive’; rel. to wreak.