rake
noun/reɪk/
/reɪk/
- [countable] a garden tool with a long handle and a row of metal points at the end, used for gathering fallen leaves and making soil smoothTopics Gardensc2
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- [countable] (in the past) a man, especially a rich and fashionable one, who was thought to have low moral standards, for example because he drank or gambled a lot or had sex with a lot of women
- [singular] the amount by which something, especially the stage in a theatre, slopes
Word Originnoun sense 1 Old English raca, racu, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch raak and German Rechen, from a base meaning ‘heap up’; the verb is partly from Old Norse raka ‘to scrape, shave’. noun sense 2 mid 17th cent.: abbreviation of archaic rakehell in the same sense. noun sense 3 early 17th cent.: probably related to German ragen ‘to project’, of unknown ultimate origin; compare with Swedish raka.
Check pronunciation:
rake