~ 1
■ 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 ~.
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》 ( ~ through ) rummage through.
4》 ( ~ something in ) informal make a lot of money.
5》 ( ~ something up/over ) revive the memory of a past time or event that is best forgotten.
Phrases
~ over ( old ) coals (or ~ over the ashes) chiefly Brit. revive the memory of a past event.
~ someone over the coals North American way of saying haul someone over the coals (see coal ).
Derivatives
~r 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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~ 2
■ noun a fashionable or wealthy man of dissolute habits.
Phrases
a ~'s progress a progressive deterioration through self-indulgence. [from the title of a series of engravings by Hogarth (1735).]
Origin
C17: abbrev. of archaic ~hell in the same sense.
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~ 3
■ 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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~ 4
■ 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'.