Meaning of WREAK
| Pronunciation: | | reek
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 WordNet Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | | [v] cause to happen or to occur as a consequence; "I cannot work a miracle"; "wreak havoc"; "bring comments"; "play a joke"; "The rain brought relief to the drought-stricken area" |
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| | Synonyms: | | bring, make for, play, work |
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| | See Also: | | arouse, arrange, bring about, bring off, bring on, bring up, call down, call forth, carry off, conjure, conjure up, create, effect, effectuate, evoke, induce, invoke, make, manage, negociate, pull off, put forward, raise, set up, stage, stir | |
| Webster's 1913 Dictionary |
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| | Definition: | |
\Wreak\, v. i.
To reck; to care. [Obs.] --Shak.
\Wreak\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wreaked}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Wreaking}.] [OE. wrek?? to revenge, punish, drive out, AS.
wrecan; akin to OFries. wreka, OS. wrekan to punish, D.
wreken to avenge, G. r["a]chen, OHG. rehhan, Icel. reka to
drive, to take vengeance, Goth. wrikan to persecute, Lith.
vargas distress, vargti to suffer distress, L. urgere to
drive, urge, Gr. ? to shut, Skr. ? to turn away. Cf. {Urge},
{Wreck}, {Wretch}.]
1. To revenge; to avenge. [Archaic]
He should wreake him on his foes. --Chaucer.
Another's wrongs to wreak upon thyself. --Spenser.
Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain.
--Fairfax.
2. To execute in vengeance or passion; to inflict; to hurl or
drive; as, to wreak vengeance on an enemy.
On me let Death wreak all his rage. --Milton.
Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to
wreak a grudge of seventeen years. --Macaulay.
But gather all thy powers, And wreak them on the
verse that thou dost weave. --Bryant.
\Wreak\, n. [Cf. AS. wr[ae]c exile, persecution, misery.
See {Wreak}, v. t.]
Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment. [Obs.]
--Shak. Spenser.
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