Library / English Dictionary

RAKE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A long-handled tool with a row of teeth at its head; used to move leaves or loosen soil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("rake" is a kind of...):

tool (an implement used in the practice of a vocation)

Meronyms (parts of "rake"):

rake handle (the handle of a rake)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rake"):

croupier's rake (a small rake used by a croupier to move chips around on the table)

garden rake (a rake used by gardeners)

Derivation:

rake (gather with a rake)

rake (level or smooth with a rake)

rake (move through with or as if with a rake)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Degree of deviation from a horizontal plane

Example:

the roof had a steep pitch

Synonyms:

pitch; rake; slant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("rake" is a kind of...):

gradient; slope (the property possessed by a line or surface that departs from the horizontal)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rake"):

loft ((golf) the backward slant on the head of some golf clubs that is designed to drive the ball high in the air)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A dissolute man in fashionable society

Synonyms:

blood; profligate; rake; rakehell; rip; roue

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("rake" is a kind of...):

debauchee; libertine; rounder (a dissolute person; usually a man who is morally unrestrained)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Scrape gently

Example:

graze the skin

Synonyms:

crease; graze; rake

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "rake" is one way to...):

brush (touch lightly and briefly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rake"):

shave (touch the surface of lightly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Gather with a rake

Example:

rake leaves

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "rake" is one way to...):

collect; garner; gather; pull together (assemble or get together)

"Rake" entails doing...:

grate; scrape (scratch repeatedly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Also:

rake in (earn large sums of money)

rake off (take money from an illegal transaction)

Derivation:

rake (a long-handled tool with a row of teeth at its head; used to move leaves or loosen soil)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Level or smooth with a rake

Example:

rake gravel

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "rake" is one way to...):

smooth; smoothen (make smooth or smoother, as if by rubbing)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

rake (a long-handled tool with a row of teeth at its head; used to move leaves or loosen soil)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Move through with or as if with a rake

Example:

She raked her fingers through her hair

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "rake" is one way to...):

displace; move (cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

rake (a long-handled tool with a row of teeth at its head; used to move leaves or loosen soil)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Examine hastily

Example:

She scanned the newspaper headlines while waiting for the taxi

Synonyms:

glance over; rake; run down; scan; skim

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "rake" is one way to...):

examine; see (observe, check out, and look over carefully or inspect)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 6

Meaning:

Sweep the length of

Example:

The gunfire raked the coast

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "rake" is one way to...):

sweep (cover the entire range of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "rake"):

enfilade (rake or be in a position to rake with gunfire in a lengthwise direction)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Credits

 Context examples: 

They are making hay, too, in Thornfield meadows: or rather, the labourers are just quitting their work, and returning home with their rakes on their shoulders, now, at the hour I arrive.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Where your calling is more open to criticism is when you pry into the secrets of private individuals, when you rake up family matters which are better hidden, and when you incidentally waste the time of men who are more busy than yourself.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When she went into the kitchen to her work, and began to rake the ashes, the cook said, Let that alone till the morning, and heat the king’s soup; I should like to run up now and give a peep: but take care you don’t let a hair fall into it, or you will run a chance of never eating again.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

In that field, Adele, I was walking late one evening about a fortnight since—the evening of the day you helped me to make hay in the orchard meadows; and, as I was tired with raking swaths, I sat down to rest me on a stile; and there I took out a little book and a pencil, and began to write about a misfortune that befell me long ago, and a wish I had for happy days to come: I was writing away very fast, though daylight was fading from the leaf, when something came up the path and stopped two yards off me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If you think so, you must have a strange opinion of me; you must regard me as a plotting profligate—a base and low rake who has been simulating disinterested love in order to draw you into a snare deliberately laid, and strip you of honour and rob you of self-respect.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)