wrack

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

wrack, n. 

 A thin, flying cloud; a rack.  [1913 Webster]

wrack, v. t. 

 To rack; to torment.  [1913 Webster]

wrack, n. [OE. wrak wreck. See Wreck.].

•  Wreck; ruin; destruction.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any marine vegetation cast up on the shore, especially plants of the genera Fucus, Laminaria, and Zostera, which are most abundant on northern shores.  [1913 Webster]
•  Coarse seaweed of any kind.  [1913 Webster]

Wrack grass, or Grass wrack (Bot.), eelgrass.

wrack, v. t. 

 To wreck.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

wrack, n.
1 seaweed cast up or growing on the shore.
2 destruction.
3 a wreck or wreckage.
4 = RACK(2).
5 = RACK(5).

Etymology

ME f. MDu. wrak or MLG wra(c)k, a parallel formation to OE wr{aelig}c, rel. to wrecan WREAK: cf. WRECK, RACK(5)

THESAURUS

wrack

algae, autophyte, bean, bloodbath, blue ruin, bracken, breakdown, breaking up, breakup, bring to ruin, brown algae, carnage, cataclysm, catastrophe, cave, cave-in, climber, collapse, condemn, conferva, confervoid, confound, consume, consumption, crack-up, crash, creeper, damn, damnation, deal destruction, debacle, decimate, decimation, demolish, depredate, depredation, desolate, desolation, despoil, despoilment, despoliation, destroy, destruction, devastate, devastation, devour, diatom, disaster, disintegration, disorganization, disruption, dissolution, dissolve, engorge, fern, fruits and vegetables, fucus, fungus, gobble, gobble up, grapevine, green algae, gulfweed, gut, gut with fire, havoc, hecatomb, herb, heterophyte, holocaust, incinerate, ivy, kelp, lay in ruins, lay waste, legume, lentil, liana, lichen, liverwort, mold, moss, mushroom, parasite, parasitic plant, pea, perdition, perthophyte, phytoplankton, planktonic algae, plant families, puffball, pulse, ravage, raze, red algae, rockweed, ruin, ruinate, ruination, rust, saprophyte, sargasso, sargassum, sea lentil, sea moss, sea wrack, seaweed, shambles, shipwreck, slaughter, smash, smashup, smut, spoliation, succulent, swallow up, throw into disorder, toadstool, total loss, unbuild, undo, undoing, unleash destruction, unleash the hurricane, unmake, upheave, vandalism, vandalize, vaporize, vetch, vine, washout, waste, wort, wrack and ruin, wreak havoc, wreck

ROGET THESAURUS

wrack

Destruction

N destruction, waste, dissolution, breaking up, diruption, disruption, consumption, disorganization, fall, downfall, devastation, ruin, perdition, crash, eboulement, smash, havoc, delabrement, debacle, break down, break up, fall apart, prostration, desolation, bouleversement, wreck, wrack, shipwreck, cataclysm, washout, extinction, annihilation, destruction of life, knock-down blow, doom, crack of doom, destroying, demolition, demolishment, overthrow, subversion, suppression, abolition, biblioclasm, sacrifice, ravage, razzia, inactivation, incendiarism, revolution, extirpation, beginning of the end, commencement de la fin, road to ruin, dilapidation, sabotage, destroyed, perishing, trembling to its fall, nodding to its fall, tottering to its fall, in course of destruction, extinct, all-destroying, all-devouring, all-engulfing, destructive, subversive, ruinous, devastating, incendiary, deletory, destroying, suicidal, deadly, with crushing effect, with a sledge hammer, delenda est Carthago, dum Roma deliberat Saguntum perit, ecrasez l'infame.