framework for holding objects
"He carefully arranged his camping gear on the metal rack attached to the side of his car trunk."
rib section of a forequarter of veal or pork or especially lamb or mutton
"The butcher sliced off the rack before wrapping it in foil for roasting."
a form of torture in which pain is inflicted by stretching the body
"The prisoner was forced onto a wooden rack to extract his confession, leaving him screaming in agony as his limbs were pulled apart."
a rapid gait of a horse in which each foot strikes the ground separately
"After warming up, the young filly broke into a lively rack as she trotted down the long driveway."
A series of one or more shelves, stacked one above the other
"After reading her latest article, I decided to explore RACK communities where safety and consent are prioritized above all else."
Thin, flying, broken clouds, or any portion of floating vapour in the sky.
A fast amble.
A wreck; destruction.
A young rabbit, or its skin.
Alternative form of arak
Initialism of Risk-aware consensual kink.
In plain English: A rack is a frame with bars or shelves used for holding, storing, or drying things.
"The metal rack held six bicycles neatly in a row outside the store."
fly in high wind
"The old sailboat began to rack violently as a sudden storm swept through the harbor."
torment emotionally or mentally
"The news of her sudden departure left him completely racked with grief."
seize together, as of parallel ropes of a tackle in order to prevent running through the block
"The sailor quickly racked the two halyards before securing them to the mast to ensure they wouldn't slip through the blocks during the storm."
torture on the rack
"The spy refused to speak because he knew his captors would put him on the rack until he revealed their network's secrets."
To place in or hang on a rack.
"After hearing the bad news, he began to rack back and forth across the living room floor until his legs gave out from exhaustion."
To stretch a person's joints.
To drive; move; go forward rapidly; stir
To clarify, and thereby deter further fermentation of, beer, wine or cider by draining or siphoning it from the dregs.
To amble fast, causing a rocking or swaying motion of the body; to pace.
In plain English: To rack something means to place it on a shelf or stand for storage.
"The thief racked his brains trying to remember the combination to the safe."
Usage: Use this verb to describe placing items onto shelves, hooks, or racks for storage rather than hanging them freely from strings. It is often confused with "stack," but implies arranging objects along a fixed structure instead of piling them vertically.
The word rack entered English from the Middle Dutch term rac, which originally referred to a framework or frame used for holding items. This usage was later adopted into Middle English as rakke before evolving into its modern form.