rake1
n.
- 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.
- an act of raking.
v.
- draw together or make smooth with a rake.
- 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.
-
(rake through)
rummage through.
-
(rake something in)
informal make a lot of money.
-
(rake something up/over)
revive the memory of a past time or event that is best forgotten.
Phrase
- 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).
Derivative
Etymology
OE raca, racu, of Gmc origin, from a base meaning ‘heap up’; the verb is partly from ON raka ‘to scrape, shave’.
rake2
n.
a fashionable or wealthy man of dissolute habits.
Phrase
- a rake's progress
a progressive deterioration through self-indulgence.
[from the title of a series of engravings by Hogarth (1735).]
Etymology
C17: abbrev. of archaic rakehell in the same sense.
rake3
v.
- set at a sloping angle.
▸(of a ship's mast or funnel) incline from the perpendicular towards the stern.
- (of a ship's bow or stern) project at its upper part beyond the keel.
n.
- the angle at which a thing slopes.
- the angle of the edge or face of a cutting tool.
Derivative
Etymology
C17: prob. rel. to Ger. ragen ‘to project’, of unknown ultimate origin; cf. Swed. raka.
rake4
n.
Brit. a number of railway carriages or wagons coupled together.
Etymology
early 20th cent. (orig. Scots and north. Engl.): from ON rák ‘stripe, streak’, from an alt. of rek- ‘to drive’.