rackey - n.
(also racquet)
1 a bat with a round or oval frame strung with catgut, nylon, etc., used in tennis, squash, etc.
2 (in pl.) a ball game for two or four persons played with rackets in a plain four-walled court.
3 a snow shoe resembling a racket.

racket-ball a small hard orig. kid-covered ball of cork and string. racket-press a press for keeping rackets taut and in shape. racket-tail a S. American humming-bird, Loddigesia mirabilis, with a racket-shaped tail. [F racquette f. It. racchetta f. Arab. raha palm of the hand]

rackey - n.
1 a a disturbance; an uproar; a din. b social excitement; gaiety.
2 sl. a a scheme for obtaining money or attaining other ends by fraudulent and often violent means. b a dodge; a sly game.
3 colloq. an activity; a way of life; a line of business (starting up a new racket).

rackety adj. [16th c.: perh. imit.]

rackey - n.
a person who operates a dishonest business.

racketeering n.

rackey - {n. phr.} Complete decay; condition of decline. * /The entire house had been so neglected that it had gone to rack and ruin./

rackey - {v. phr.} To try your best to think; make a great mental effort; especially: to try to remember something you have known. * /Bob racked his brain trying to remember where he left the book./ * /Susan racked her brain trying to guess whom the valentine came from./ * /John racked his brain during the test trying to solve the problem./

rackey - n. & v.
--n.

1 a a framework usu. with rails, bars, hooks, etc., for holding or storing things. b a frame for holding animal fodder.
2 a cogged or toothed bar or rail engaging with a wheel or pinion etc., or using pegs to adjust the position of something.
3 hist. an instrument of torture stretching the victim's joints by the turning of rollers to which the wrists and ankles were tied.

--v.

tr.
1 (of disease or pain) inflict suffering on.
2 hist. torture (a person) on the rack.
3 place in or on a rack.
4 shake violently.
5 injure by straining.
6 oppress (tenants) by exacting excessive rent.
7 exhaust (the land) by excessive use.

on the rack in distress or under strain. rack one's brains make a great mental effort (racked my brains for something to say). rack-railway a railway with a cogged rail between the bearing rails. rack-rent n.
1 a high rent, annually equalling the full value of the property to which it relates.
2 an extortionate rent.

--v.

tr. exact this from (a tenant) or for (land). rack-renter a tenant paying or a landlord exacting an extortionate rent. rack-up US achieve (a score etc.). rack-wheel a cog-wheel. [ME rakke f. MDu., MLG rak, rek, prob. f. recken stretch]