*rak*

(Mach.) A railway brake powered by compressed air. Knight.
Syn. -- airbrake. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ Ar. al-burāq, fr. baraqa to flash, shine. ] The imaginary milk-white animal on which Mohammed was said to have been carried up to heaven; a white mule. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Arrack. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to Astrakhan in Russia or its products; made of an Astrakhan skin. -- n. The skin of stillborn or young lambs of that region, the curled wool of which resembles fur. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. An ancient rural game, commonly played round stacks of barley, or other grain, in which some of the party attempt to catch others who run from a goal. [ 1913 Webster ]

imp. of Break. [ Arhaic ] Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. brake fern; cf. AS. bracce fern, LG. brake willow bush, Da. bregne fern, G. brach fallow; prob. orig. the growth on rough, broken ground, fr. the root of E. break. See Break, v. t., cf. Bracken, and 2d Brake, n. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Bot.) A fern of the genus Pteris, esp. the Pteris aquilina, common in almost all countries. It has solitary stems dividing into three principal branches. Less properly: Any fern. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A thicket; a place overgrown with shrubs and brambles, with undergrowth and ferns, or with canes. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rounds rising hillocks, brakes obscure and rough,
To shelter thee from tempest and from rain. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cane brake, a thicket of canes. See Canebrake. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. brake; cf. LG. brake an instrument for breaking flax, G. breche, fr. the root of E. break. See Break, v. t., and cf. Breach. ] 1. An instrument or machine to break or bruise the woody part of flax or hemp so that it may be separated from the fiber. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An extended handle by means of which a number of men can unite in working a pump, as in a fire engine. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A baker's kneading though. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A sharp bit or snaffle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pampered jades . . . which need nor break nor bit. Gascoigne. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A frame for confining a refractory horse while the smith is shoeing him; also, an inclosure to restrain cattle, horses, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

A horse . . . which Philip had bought . . . and because of his fierceness kept him within a brake of iron bars. J. Brende. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. That part of a carriage, as of a movable battery, or engine, which enables it to turn. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mil.) An ancient engine of war analogous to the crossbow and ballista. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Agric.) A large, heavy harrow for breaking clods after plowing; a drag. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. A piece of mechanism for retarding or stopping motion by friction, as of a carriage or railway car, by the pressure of rubbers against the wheels, or of clogs or ratchets against the track or roadway, or of a pivoted lever against a wheel or drum in a machine. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Engin.) An apparatus for testing the power of a steam engine, or other motor, by weighing the amount of friction that the motor will overcome; a friction brake. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. A cart or carriage without a body, used in breaking in horses. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. An ancient instrument of torture. Holinshed. [ 1913 Webster ]

Air brake. See Air brake, in the Vocabulary. --
Brake beam or
Brake bar, the beam that connects the brake blocks of opposite wheels. --
Brake block. (a) The part of a brake holding the brake shoe. (b) A brake shoe. --
Brake shoe or
Brake rubber, the part of a brake against which the wheel rubs. --
Brake wheel, a wheel on the platform or top of a car by which brakes are operated. --
Continuous brake . See under Continuous. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Brakemen [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Railroads) A man in charge of a brake or brakes. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mining) The man in charge of the winding (or hoisting) engine for a mine. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the combination of interacting parts that work to slow a moving vehicle.
Syn. -- brake system. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Full of brakes; abounding with brambles, shrubs, or ferns; rough; thorny. [ 1913 Webster ]

In the woods and braky glens. W. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A thicket of canes. Ellicott. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any of several small lithophytic ferns of tropical and warm temperate regions.
Syn. -- cliff brake, rock brake. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. same as coracan.
Syn. -- finger millet, ragi, ragee, African millet, coracan, kurakkan, Eleusine coracana. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Zool.) A bird (Crex crex or Crex pratensis) which frequents grain fields; the European crake or land rail; -- called also corn bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A boast. See Crack, n. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ See Crack. ] 1. To cry out harshly and loudly, like the bird called crake. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To boast; to speak loudly and boastfully. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Each man may crake of that which was his own. Mir. for Mag. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Icel. krāka crow, krākr raven, Sw. kråka, Dan. krage; perh. of imitative origin. Cf. Crow. ] (Zool.) Any species or rail of the genera Crex and Porzana; -- so called from its singular cry. See Corncrake. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) See Crowberry. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who boasts; a braggart. [ Obs. ] Old Play. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Akin to LG. drake, OHG. antrache, anetrecho, G. enterich, Icel. andriki, Dan. andrik, OSw. andrak, andrage, masc., and fr. AS. ened, fem., duck; akin to D. eend, G. ente, Icel. önd, Dan. and, Sw. and, Lith. antis, L. anas, Gr. &unr_; (for &unr_;), and perh. Skr. āti a water fowl. √207. In English the first part of the word was lost. The ending is akin to E. rich. Cf. Gulaund. ] 1. The male of the duck kind. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ Cf. Dragon fly, under Dragon. ] The drake fly. [ 1913 Webster ]

The drake will mount steeple height into the air. Walton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Drake fly, a kind of fly, sometimes used in angling. [ 1913 Webster ]

The dark drake fly, good in August. Walton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. draca dragon, L. draco. See Dragon. ] 1. A dragon. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Beowulf resolves to kill the drake. J. A. Harrison (Beowulf). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A small piece of artillery. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Two or three shots, made at them by a couple of drakes, made them stagger. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. dravik, W. drewg, darnel, cockle, etc. ] Wild oats, brome grass, or darnel grass; -- called also drawk, dravick, and drank. [ Prov. Eng. ] Dr. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A flat stone so thrown along the surface of water as to skip from point to point before it sinks; also, the sport of so throwing stones; -- sometimes called ducks and drakes. [ 1913 Webster ]

Internal earthquakes, that, not content with one throe, run along spasmodically, like boys playing at what is called drakestone. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A mythical monster of the early Anglo-Saxon literature; a dragon. W. Spalding. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. f&ymacr_;rdraca; f&ymacr_;r fire + draca a dragon. See Fire, and Drake a dragon. ] [ Obs. ] 1. A fiery dragon. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A fiery meteor; an ignis fatuus; a rocket. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A worker at a furnace or fire. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A freckle. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A few fraknes in his face. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) See Grackle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a brake operated by hand, used to stop a vehicle or keep it stationary; it usually operates by a mechanical linkage.
Syn. -- handbrake, emergency, emergency brake, parking brake. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Jap., stomach cutting. ] A ritual form of suicide, by slashing the abdomen, formerly practiced in Japan, and commanded by the government in the cases of disgraced officials; disembowelment; -- also written, but incorrectly, hari-kari. W. E. Griffis. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A rake for collecting hay; especially, a large rake drawn by a horse or horses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; Hercules. ] A picrate compound, used as an explosive in blasting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A rake drawn by a horse. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. & adj. same as Iraqi. [ R. ]
Syn. -- Iraqi. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖prop. n. [ Russ. karakul' curly fleece of Bokhara and Khiva sheep. ] 1. A type of Astrakhan, esp. in fine grades, obtained from the Karakul sheep. See sense 2 and cf. Caracul. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. A hardy coarse-haired sheep of central Asia, bearing a soft curly fleece that is black in the young lambs, but which grows brown or gray when adult; the lambs are valued for their soft curly black fur. [ wns=1 ]
Syn. -- broadtail, caracul. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

3. A large lake in the Pamirs of Central Asia, lying 13, 200 feet above sea level. [ PJC ]

v. t. (Naut.) Same as Keelhaul. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prob. from OSw. krake, or ODan. krage the trunk of a tree, the branches of which are not entirely cut off, to which it was likened by the Norwegian mariners. ] A fabulous Scandinavian sea monster, often represented as resembling an island, but sometimes as resembling an immense octopus. [ 1913 Webster ]

To believe all that has been said of the sea serpent or kraken, would be credulity; to reject the possibility of their existence, would be presumption. Goldsmith. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like a kraken huge and black. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mus.) A lively Polish dance. See Cracovienne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An East Indian cereal grass (Eleusine coracana) whose seed yield a somewhat bitter flour, a staple in the Orient.
Syn. -- finger millet, ragi, ragee, African millet, coracan, corakan, Eleusine coracana. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } a. Made with boards whose edges lap one over another; clinker-built; -- said of boats. Contrasted with carvel-built.
Syn. -- lap-jointed, overlapping. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. mandragora, L. mandragoras, fr. Gr. mandrago`ras: cf. F. mandragore. ] 1. (Bot.) A low plant (Mandragora officinarum) of the Nightshade family, having a fleshy root, often forked, and supposed to resemble a man. It was therefore supposed to have animal life, and to cry out when pulled up. All parts of the plant are strongly narcotic. It is found in the Mediterranean region. [ 1913 Webster ]

And shrieks like mandrakes, torn out of the earth,
That living mortals, hearing them, run mad. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The mandrake of Scripture was perhaps the same plant, but proof is wanting. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) The May apple (Podophyllum peltatum). See May apple under May, and Podophyllum. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The root of the mandrake plant; used medicinally or as a narcotic; as a substance it is also called mandrake. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Naut.) Same as Moonsail. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. -raked p. pr. & vb. n. -raking ] To seek for, expose, or charge, especially habitually, corruption, real or alleged, on the part of public men and corporations. On April 14, 1906, President Roosevelt delivered a speech on “The Man with the Muck Rake, ” in which he deprecated sweeping and unjust charges of corruption against public men and corporations. The phrase was taken up by the press, and the verb to muckrake, in the above sense, and the noun muckraker, to designate one so engaged, were speedily coined and obtained wide currency. The original allusion was to a character in Bunyan's “Pilgrim's Progress” so intent on raking up muck that he could not see a celestial crown held above him. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. A rake for scraping up muck or dung. See Muckrake, v. i., below. [ obs. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A person who habitually muckrakes. [ PJC ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Overraked p. pr. & vb. n. Overraking. ] (Naut.) To rake over, or sweep across, from end to end, as waves that break over a vessel anchored with head to the sea. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Same as Parrakeet. [ 1913 Webster ]