racket

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: rack=et

CIDE DICTIONARY

racket, n. [F. raquette; cf. Sp. raqueta, It. racchetta, which is perhaps for retichetta, and fr. L. rete a net (cf. Reticule); or perh. from the Arabic; cf. Ar. rāha the palm of the hand (used at first to strike the ball), and OF. rachette, rasquette, carpus, tarsus.].

•  A thin strip of wood, having the ends brought together, forming a somewhat elliptical hoop, across which a network of catgut or cord is stretched. It is furnished with a handle, and is used for catching or striking a ball in tennis and similar games.  [1913 Webster]

  "Each one [of the Indians] has a bat curved like a crosier, and ending in a racket."  [1913 Webster]
•  A variety of the game of tennis played with peculiar long-handled rackets; -- chiefly in the plural.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]
•  A snowshoe formed of cords stretched across a long and narrow frame of light wood.  [1913 Webster]
•  A broad wooden shoe or patten for a man or horse, to enable him to step on marshy or soft ground.  [1913 Webster]

Racket court, a court for playing the game of rackets.

racket, v. t. 

 To strike with, or as with, a racket.  [1913 Webster]
"Poor man [is] racketed from one temptation to another."  [1913 Webster]

racket, n. [Gael. racaid a noise, disturbance.].

•  confused, clattering noise; din; noisy talk or sport.  [1913 Webster]
•  A carouse; any reckless dissipation.  [1913 Webster]

racket, n. 

•  A scheme, dodge, trick, or the like; something taking place considered as exciting, trying, unusual, or the like; also, such occurrence considered as an ordeal; as, to work a racket; to stand upon the racket.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  an organized illegal activity, such as illegal gambling, bootlegging, or extortion.  [PJC]

racket, v. i. 

•  To make a confused noise or racket.  [1913 Webster]
•  To engage in noisy sport; to frolic.  Sterne.  [1913 Webster]
•  To carouse or engage in dissipation.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

racket, n. (also racquet)
1 a bat with a round or oval frame strung with catgut, nylon, etc., used in tennis, squash, etc.
2 (in pl.) a ball game for two or four persons played with rackets in a plain four-walled court.
3 a snow shoe resembling a racket.

Idiom

racket-ball a small hard orig. kid-covered ball of cork and string. racket-press a press for keeping rackets taut and in shape. racket-tail a S. American humming-bird, Loddigesia mirabilis, with a racket-shaped tail.

racket, n.
1 a a disturbance; an uproar; a din. b social excitement; gaiety.
2 sl. a a scheme for obtaining money or attaining other ends by fraudulent and often violent means. b a dodge; a sly game.
3 colloq. an activity; a way of life; a line of business (starting up a new racket).

Derivative

rackety adj.

Etymology

16th c.: perh. imit.

THESAURUS

racket

Babel, Bedlam let loose, Cosa Nostra, Lastex, Mafia, ado, agate, agitation, art, artful dodge, artifice, babel, baleen, ball, ballot-box stuffing, ballyhoo, baseball bat, bat, battledore, bauble, bedlam, black market, blast, blind, blocks, bluster, bobbery, bootlegging, bother, brattle, brawl, broil, brouhaha, bunco, business, cacophony, calling, caper, cardsharping, career, career building, careerism, chaos, charivari, chatter, cheat, cheating, checkerboard, chessboard, chewing gum, chicanery, chirm, clack, clacket, clamor, clangor, clap, clatter, clitter, clitterclatter, club, clunter, cockhorse, commotion, confusion of tongues, conspiracy, contrivance, coup, cozenage, craft, cricket bat, cue, cute trick, deceit, design, device, diddle, diddling, din, discord, dishonesty, disturbance, dodge, doll, doll carriage, donnybrook, donnybrook fair, drunken brawl, dustup, ebullition, elastic, elastomer, embroilment, employment, expedient, fakement, fanaticism, feint, ferment, fetch, fishy transaction, flam, flap, flimflam, fomentation, foofaraw, fracas, fraud, fraudulence, fraudulency, free-for-all, frenzy, fume, furor, furore, fury, fuss, gambit, gambling, game, gerrymandering, gewgaw, gimcrack, gimmick, golf club, graft, gray market, grift, gum, gum elastic, gyp, gyp joint, handball, handicraft, hassle, hell, hell broke loose, helter-skelter, hobbyhorse, howl, hubbub, hue and cry, hullabaloo, illegal commerce, illegal operations, illegitimate business, illicit business, imposition, imposture, intrigue, jack-in-the-box, jacks, jackstones, jackstraws, jangle, job, jugglery, jumping jack, kickshaw, knavery, knickknack, lifework, line, line of business, line of work, little game, livelihood, loan-sharking, loud noise, maneuver, marble, marionette, melee, metier, mig, mission, moonshining, move, mystery, narcotics traffic, noise, noise and shouting, number, occupation, organized crime, outcry, pandemonium, paper doll, passion, pell-mell, pick-up sticks, pinwheel, plaything, plot, ploy, pother, practice, profession, prostitution, protection racket, puppet, pursuit, rag doll, rage, rampage, rattle, rattletybang, rattling, red herring, rhubarb, riot, roar, rocking horse, rough-and-tumble, roughhouse, row, rubber, rubber ball, rubber band, ruckle, ruckus, ruction, rumble, rumpus, ruse, scam, scheme, scramble, shady dealings, shift, shindy, shivaree, sleight, spandex, specialization, specialty, sport, spring, springboard, static, steelie, stir, storminess, stratagem, strategy, stretch fabric, subterfuge, swindle, tactic, taw, teetotum, tempestuousness, the rackets, the syndicate, thunder, thunderclap, tintamarre, to-do, top, toy, toy soldier, trade, traffic in women, trampoline, trick, trickery, trinket, trouble, tumult, tumultuousness, turbulence, turmoil, uproar, upset, usury, vocation, walk, walk of life, whalebone, whim-wham, white slavery, wildness, wile, wily device, work, zeal, zealousness

ROGET THESAURUS

racket

Discord

N discord, disagreement, discord, disaccord, dissidence, dissonance, jar, clash, shock, jarring, jostling, screw loose, variance, difference, dissension, misunderstanding, cross purposes, odds, brouillerie, division, split, rupture, disruption, division in the camp, house divided against itself, disunion, breach, schism, feud, faction, quarrel, dispute, tiff, tracasserie, squabble, altercation, barney, demel_e, snarl, spat, towrow, words, high words, wrangling, jangle, brabble, cross questions and crooked answers, snip-snap, family jars, polemics, litigation, strife, warfare, outbreak, open rupture, declaration of war, broil, brawl, row, racket, hubbub, rixation, embroilment, embranglement, imbroglio, fracas, breach of the peace, piece of work, scrimmage, rumpus, breeze, squall, riot, disturbance, commotion, bear garden, Donnybrook, Donnybrook Fair, subject of dispute, ground of quarrel, battle ground, disputed point, bone of contention, bone to pick, apple of discord, casus belli, question at issue, vexed question, vexata quaestio, brand of discord, troublous times, cat-and-dog life, contentiousness, enmity, hate, Kilkenny cats, disputant, strange bedfellows, discordant, disagreeing, out of tune, ajar, on bad terms, dissentient, unreconciled, unpacified, contentious, quarrelsome, unpacific, gladiatorial, controversial, polemic, disputatious, factious, litigious, litigant, pettifogging, at odds, at loggerheads, at daggers drawn, at variance, at issue, at cross purposes, at sixes and sevens, at feud, at high words, up in arms, together by the ears, in hot water, embroiled, torn, disunited, quot homines tot sententiae, no love lost between them, non nostrum tantas componere lites, Mars gravior sub pace latet, discord, discordance, dissonance, cacophony, want of harmony, caterwauling, harshness, Babel, Dutch concert, cat's concert, marrowbones and cleavers, discordant, dissonant, absonant, out of tune, tuneless, unmusical, untunable, unmelodious, immelodious, unharmonious, inharmonious, singsong, cacophonous, harsh, jarring.

Agitation

N agitation, stir, tremor, shake, ripple, jog, jolt, jar, jerk, shock, succussion, trepidation, quiver, quaver, dance, jactitation, quassation, shuffling, twitter, flicker, flutter, turbulence, perturbation, commotion, turmoil, disquiet, tumult, tumultuation, hubbub, rout, bustle, fuss, racket, subsultus, staggers, megrims, epilepsy, fits, carphology, chorea, floccillation, the jerks, St. Vitus's dance, tilmus, spasm, throe, throb, palpitation, convulsion, disturbance, chaos, restlessness, ferment, fermentation, ebullition, effervescence, hurly-burly, cahotage, tempest, storm, ground swell, heavy sea, whirlpool, vortex, whirlwind, shaking, agitated tremulous, desultory, subsultory, saltatoric, quasative, shambling, giddy-paced, saltatory, convulsive, unquiet, restless, all of a twitter, by fits and starts, subsultorily, per saltum, hop skip and jump, in convulsions, in fits, tempete dans un verre d'eau.

Loudness

N loudness, power, loud noise, din, blare, clang, clangor, clatter, noise, bombilation, roar, uproar, racket, hubbub, bobbery, fracas, charivari, trumpet blast, flourish of trumpets, fanfare, tintamarre, peal, swell, blast, larum, boom, bang (explosion), resonance, vociferation, hullabaloo, lungs, Stentor, artillery, cannon, thunder, loud, sonorous, high-sounding, big-sounding, deep, full, powerful, noisy, blatant, clangorous, multisonous, thundering, deafening, trumpet-tongued, ear-splitting, ear-rending, ear-deafening, piercing, obstreperous, rackety, uproarious, enough to wake the dead, enough to wake seven sleepers, shrill &c 410 clamorous stentorian, stentorophonic, loudly, aloud, at the top of one's voice, at the top of one's lungs, lustily, in full cry, the air rings with, the deep dread-bolted thunder.

Roll

N roll, drumming, berloque, bombination, rumbling, tattoo, drumroll, dingdong, tantara, rataplan, whirr, ratatat, ratatat-tat, rubadub, pitapat, quaver, clutter, charivari, racket, cuckoo, repetition, peal of bells, devil's tattoo, reverberation, clickety-clack, hum, purr, hummingbird, cat, kitten (animal sounds), rolling, monotonous, like a bee in a bottle.