Rack and ruin, destruction; utter ruin. [Colloq.] -- To go to rack, to perish; to be destroyed. [Colloq.] "All goes to rack." Pepys.

The winds in the upper region, which move the clouds above, which we call the rack, . . . pass without noise. Bacon.

And the night rack came rolling up. C. Kingsley.

It is in common practice to draw wine or beer from the lees (which we call racking), whereby it will clarify much the sooner. Bacon.

Rack vintage, wine cleansed and drawn from the lees. Cowell.

Mangle rack. (Mach.) See under Mangle, n. -- Rack block. (Naut.) See def. 1 (f), above. -- Rack lashing, a lashing or binding where the rope is tightened, and held tight by the use of a small stick of wood twisted around. -- Rack rail (Railroads), a toothed rack, laid as a rail, to afford a hold for teeth on the driving wheel of a locomotive for climbing steep gradients, as in ascending a mountain. -- Rack saw, a saw having wide teeth. -- Rack stick, the stick used in a rack lashing. -- To be on the rack, to suffer torture, physical or mental. -- To live at rack and manger, to live on the best at another's expense. [Colloq.] -- To put to the rack, to subject to torture; to torment.

A fit of the stone puts a king to the rack, and makes him as miserable as it does the meanest subject. Sir W. Temple.

He was racked and miserably tormented. Foxe.

Vaunting aloud but racked with deep despair. Milton.

The landlords there shamefully rack their tenants. Spenser.

They [landlords] rack their rents an ace too high. Gascoigne.

Grant that I may never rack a Scripture simile beyond the true intent thereof. Fuller.

Try what my credit can in Venice do;
That shall be racked even to the uttermost. Shak.

To rack one's brains or wits, to exert them to the utmost for the purpose of accomplishing something.

Syn. -- To torture; torment; rend; tear.