late 14c., "wrecked ship, shipwreck," probably from Middle Dutch wrak "wreck," from Proto-Germanic *wrakaz-, from root *wreg- "to push, shove drive" (see wreak). The root sense perhaps is "that which is cast ashore." Sense perhaps influenced by Old English wræc "misery, punishment," and wrecan "to punish, drive out" (source of modern wreak). The meaning "damage, disaster, destruction" (in wrack and ruin) is from c. 1400, from the Old English word, but conformed in spelling to this one. Sense of "seaweed, etc., cast up on shore" is recorded from 1510s, probably an alteration of wreck (n.) in this sense (mid-15c.). Wrack, wreck, rack and wretch were utterly tangled in spelling and somewhat in sense in Middle and early modern English.
wrack (v.)
"to ruin or wreck" (originally of ships), 1560s, from earlier intransitive sense "to be shipwrecked" (late 15c.), from wrack (n.). Often confused in this sense since 16c. with rack (v.) in the sense of "torture on the rack;" to wrack one's brains is thus erroneous. Related: Wracked; wracking.
实用例句
1. Of the original scheme hardly a wrack remains.
原来的计划几乎一点残迹也未留下.
来自辞典例句
2. Periodic crises wrack the capitalist system, and they grow in size and duration.
周期性的危机破坏着资本主义制度, 这种危机的规模在扩大,时间在延长.
来自辞典例句
3. The wrack had begun to stink as it rotted in the sun.
海草残骸在阳光下腐烂,开始变臭了.
来自互联网
4. The barn went to wrack and ruin after the farmer moved.
那农夫搬走之后,谷仓就废弃了.
来自互联网
5. The wrack of the city was still hot from the fire.
