rake

rake

rake1 / rāk/ • n. an implement consisting of a pole with a crossbar toothed like a comb at the end, or with several tines held together by a crosspiece, used esp. for drawing together cut grass or smoothing loose soil or gravel. ∎  a wheeled implement used for the same purposes. ∎  a similar implement used for other purposes, e.g., by a croupier drawing in money at a gaming table. • v. [tr.] collect, gather, or move with a rake or similar implement: they started raking up hay. ∎  make (a stretch of ground) tidy or smooth with a rake: the infield dirt is meticulously raked. ∎  scratch or scrape (something, esp. a person's flesh) with a long sweeping movement: her fingers raked Bill's face. ∎  [tr.] draw or drag (something) with a long sweeping movement: she raked a comb through her hair. ∎  sweep (something) from end to end with gunfire, a look, or a beam of light: Greg let his high beams rake the shrubbery. ∎  [intr.] move across something with a long sweeping movement: his icy gaze raked mercilessly over Lissa's slender figure. ∎  [intr.] search or rummage through something: Nina decided to rake through the drawers. PHRASES: (as) thin as a rake (of a person) very thin.PHRASAL VERBS: rake in something inf. make a lot of money, typically very easily: he was now raking in $250 million a year. rake something up/over revive the memory of an incident or period of time that is best forgotten: I have no desire to rake over the past.DERIVATIVES: rak·er n. rake2 • n. a fashionable or wealthy man of dissolute or promiscuous habits. PHRASES: a rake's progress a progressive deterioration, esp. through self-indulgence. rake3 • v. [tr.] (often be raked) set (something, esp. a stage or the floor of an auditorium) at a sloping angle. ∎  [intr.] (of a ship's mast or funnel) incline from the perpendicular toward the stern. ∎  [intr.] (of a ship's bow or stern) project at its upper part beyond the keel. • n. 1. [in sing.] the angle at which a thing slopes. 2. the angle of the edge or face of a cutting tool.

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"rake." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"rake." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-rake.html

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Rake

Rake, slope of the stage floor from the back wall to the footlights. This had once a definite purpose in that it aided the illusion of scenes painted in perspective. With the passing of such scenes it ceased to have any practical use since, contrary to traditional belief, it did not give the dancer a better basis for a leap, nor did it make the actors up-stage more visible to the audience. (This is better done by grouping them on rostrums at least a foot higher than the group in front.) The raked stage was limited in practice to a slope of 4 per cent and was often as small as 1½ per cent. It had serious disadvantages in the setting of scenery, as pieces set diagonally could not join neatly to squarely vertical neighbours; also the side-flats of a box-set needed wedges under the base of each to compensate for the slope, or else they had to be built out of true with sloping bottom rails and ceased to be interchangeable. Moreover, any setting of pieces on a boat truck became dangerous, since the truck might run off on its own down the incline. The modern practice is to have a flat stage floor, and to rake the floor of the auditorium, although a temporary rake may be used to achieve a particular effect by laying plywood sheets over joist-frames laid parallel to the front of the stage and increasing in height up-stage.

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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Rake." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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rake

rake.
1. The angle, in relation to the perpendicular, of a ship's masts and funnels, which can be raked forward or aft. It is a word also sometimes used to describe the degree of overhang of its bow and stern.

2. As a verb, it describes the operation of manoeuvring a warship so that it could fire its guns down the length of an adversary. The manoeuvre was particularly used during the days of sailing navies when a ship's main cannons could fire broadsides only. This was why wooden ships of the line were built immensely strong on their sides, with oak or teak planking 38–46 centimetres (15–18 in.) thick. Their weakest point was at the stern with its wide galleries and windows. If a warship could manoeuvre to cross the stern of an enemy at right angles, it could fire its guns through the stern, creating immense damage and slaughter, without its adversary being able to reply. Almost equally advantageous was to cross its bows at right angles, as this part of the ship was also a weak point defensively. See also ‘crossing the T’.

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"rake." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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rake

rake farm implement consisting of a row of straight or curved teeth of metal or wood attached to a bar or frame. It is used for gathering hay or grain into piles; for clearing fields, lawns, and yards; and for stirring and spreading soil. Horse-drawn rakes first appeared in the early 19th cent. but were not used generally until later. Of the several types of modern power-drawn hay rakes, the side-delivery rakes, which gather hay into continuous windrows by a rolling action, are the most popular. These include a reel type, which has raking teeth attached to rotating bars, and a finger-wheel type, which has teeth attached to large wheels. Lesser used rakes include the dump rake, which creates piles, and the sweep rake, which gathers and hauls a heavy load directly to the stack.

Bibliography: See C. Culpin, Farm Machinery (11th ed. 1986).

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"rake." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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rake

rake1 implement consisting of a comb-like cross-bar fitted to a long handle. OE. raca m., racu fem. = MLG., MDu. rāke (Du. raak), rel. to Goth. ufrakjan stretch out, f. Gmc. base *rak- :- IE. *roĝ- *reĝ- move in a straight line, stretch, repr. also by RIGHT.
So vb. XIII. — ON. raka scrape, shave, rake; also f. the sb.

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T. F. HOAD. "rake." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "rake." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-rake.html

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rake

rake1 rake's progress a progressive deterioration, especially through self-indulgence, from the title of a series of engravings by William Hogarth (1735), showing the rake's life progressing from its wealthy and privileged origins to debt, despair, and death on the gallows.

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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "rake." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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rake

rake2 (naut.) projection of hull at stem and stern beyond the keel line. XVII. f. rake vb. (XVII) have a rake, incline from the perpendicular; of unkn. orig.
Hence rakish1 (-ISH1) having a smart appearance like a fast-sailing ship. XIX (partly assoc. with next).

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rake

rake2 as thin as a rake (of a person) very thin.
rake and scrape in Black English usage, be extremely thrifty; scrimp and save.
rake over the ashes revive the memory of an incident which is best forgotten.

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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "rake." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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rake

rake 2 v.
1. (of a ship's mast or funnel) incline from the perpendicular toward the stern.

2. (of a ship's bow or stern) project at its upper part beyond the keel.

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"rake." The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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rake

rake 1 v. sweep (something) from end to end with gunfire, a look, or a beam of light: McDonald and his company raked the shrubs and undergrowth with their M-16s.

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Rake

Rake

colts or mules, collectively ; a row or series.

Examples : rake of coltsBk. of St. Albans, 1486; rake of hutches (a string of horses), 1901.

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"Rake." Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. 1985. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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rake

rake3 man of dissipated or loose habits. XVII. Clipped form of rakel (XVII), var. of arch. rakehell (XVI), f. RAKE1 + HELL.
Hence rakish2 (-ISH1) XVIII.

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T. F. HOAD. "rake." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "rake." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-rake2.html

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rake

rake. Inclination or slope of anything, such as the top of a triangular pediment or a pitched roof.

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JAMES STEVENS CURL. "rake." A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Rake

Rake W. Sussex. Rake 1296. ‘(Place at) the hollow or pass’. OE hraca.

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A. D. MILLS. "Rake." A Dictionary of British Place-Names. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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rake

rake See PITCH.

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AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "rake." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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rake

rakeache, awake, bake, betake, Blake, brake, break, cake, crake, drake, fake, flake, forsake, hake, Jake, lake, make, mistake, opaque, partake, quake, rake, sake, shake, sheikh, slake, snake, splake, stake, steak, strake, take, undertake, wake, wideawake •bellyache • clambake • headache •backache • pancake • teacake •seedcake • beefcake • cheesecake •fishcake • johnnycake • tipsy cake •rock cake • shortcake • oatcake •oilcake • fruitcake • cupcake •pat-a-cake • cornflake • snowflake •rattlesnake • handbrake • mandrake •heartbreak • airbrake • daybreak •jailbreak • canebrake • windbreak •tiebreak • corncrake • outbreak •footbrake • muckrake • earache •firebreak • namesake • keepsake •handshake • milkshake • heartache •beefsteak • sweepstake • stocktake •out-take • uptake • grubstake •wapentake • toothache • seaquake •kittiwake • moonquake • earthquake

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"rake." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"rake." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-rake.html

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

Respect the rake - and your back, too Respect the rake - and your back, too -...
Newspaper article from: The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA); 11/7/2009
Hoping to rake it in; The inventor of the "Rapid Rake" has run into costly...
Newspaper article from: Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN); 6/24/2001
Retired boat captain's rake helps keep Dismal Swamp Canal clean.(Y)
Newspaper article from: The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA); 6/5/2005

Facts and information from other sites

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rake. (Image by quinn norton, CC)