| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| rake1 |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  r k |
| NOUN: | 1. A long-handled implement with a row of projecting teeth at its head, used especially to gather leaves or to loosen or smooth earth. 2. A device that resembles such an implement. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: raked, rak·ing, rakes
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To gather or move with or as if with a rake: rake leaves; rake in the gambling chips. 2. To smooth, scrape, or loosen with a rake or similar implement: rake the soil for planting. 3. Informal To gain in abundance. Often used with in: a successful company that raked in the profits. 4. To search or examine thoroughly; ransack. 5. To scrape; scratch. 6. To aim heavy gunfire along the length of. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To use a rake. 2. To conduct a thorough search: raked through the files for the misplaced letter. | | PHRASAL VERB: | rake up To revive or bring to light; uncover: rake up old gossip. | | IDIOM: | rake over the coals To reprimand severely. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old English raca. See reg- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | rak er —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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