rake
pronunciation
How to pronounce rake in British English:
UK [reɪk]
How to pronounce rake in American English:
US [reɪk]
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- Noun:
- a dissolute man in fashionable society
- degree of deviation from a horizontal plane
- a long-handled tool with a row of teeth at its head; used to move leaves or loosen soil
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- Verb:
- move through with or as if with a rake
- level or smooth with a rake
- sweep the length of
- examine hastily
- gather with a rake
- scrape gently
Word Origin
- rake
- rake: English has three distinct words rake. The oldest, ‘toothed implement’ [OE], goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *rak- or *rek- ‘gather, heap up’, which also produced German rechen ‘rake’. It may be descended ultimately from Indo-European *rog-, *reg- ‘stretch’ (source of Latin regere ‘rule’ and English right), the notion of ‘stretching’ developing via ‘stretch out the hand’ to ‘collect, gather’. Rake ‘slant, inclination’ [17] is of uncertain origin, although it seems likely that it is related to German ragen ‘project’.It formed the basis of the adjective rakish [19] (inspired originally by the backwardinclined masts on certain fast sailing ships), but this has since become associated with the third rake, ‘dissolute man’ [17]. This was short for the now defunct rakehell [16], which comes from the notion that one would have to search through hell with a rake to find such a bad man.=> right; rakish
- rake (n.1)
- "toothed tool for drawing or scraping things together," Old English raca "rake," earlier ræce, from Proto-Germanic *rak- "gather, heap up" (cognates: Old Norse reka "spade, shovel," Old High German rehho, German Rechen "a rake," Gothic rikan "to heap up, collect"), from PIE *reg- (1) "move in a straight line" (cognates: Greek oregein "to reach, stretch out," Latin regere "direct, rule; keep straight, guide;" see regal), perhaps via its action, or via the notion of "implement with straight pieces of wood" [Watkins].
- rake (v.)
- mid-13c., "clear (rubbish, grass, etc.) by raking; gather (grain) by raking," from rake (n.1), or from a lost Old English verb related to it, or from a similar Scandinavian source (compare Swedish raka, Danish rage "rake"). Of gunfire from 1630s. Related: Raked; raking. To rake in money or something like it is from 1580s.
- rake (n.2)
- "debauchee; idle, dissolute person," 1650s, shortening of rakehell. Hogarth's "Rake's Progress" engravings were published in 1735.
Example
- 1. Use a landscape rake to create a level surface .
- 2. Lightly rake the surface once more .
- 3. This is the rake 's progress enjoyed by the us over the past decade .
- 4. Use the back of the rake to tamp down the soil and lightly rake the surface once more .
- 5. Within olympic venues , each worker is given a single task so that nothing may distract him or her from it-a kit bag to carry , a starting block to remove , a rake to smooth the sand .