Search results
To go to rack and ruin is to fall into a state of complete disrepair or destruction. What's the origin of the phrase 'Rack and ruin'? It might be thought that the rack in this phrase refers to the medieval torture device, as in the phrase rack one’s brains.
a state of decay: go to rack and ruin The whole farm was going to rack and ruin. Over the years, they let the house go to rack and ruin. Many of the former mill towns are trying to avoid wrack and ruin by increasing tourism. The city had been abandoned, and the grand buildings in the square were in rack and ruin.
5 days ago · The meaning of GO TO RACK AND RUIN is to become destroyed or ruined. How to use go to rack and ruin in a sentence.
rack and ruin, gone to. Dilapidated and decayed. These words originally meant utter destruction and financial ruin, rack here being a variant of wreck (it was sometimes spelled wrack, showing the close association). The term, from the sixteenth century, no doubt owes its long life in part to alliteration.
a state of decay: go to rack and ruin The whole farm was going to rack and ruin. Over the years, they let the house go to rack and ruin. Many of the former mill towns are trying to avoid wrack and ruin by increasing tourism. The city had been abandoned, and the grand buildings in the square were in rack and ruin.
This phrase is used to describe a place that has been completely destroyed or left in a state of disrepair. It comes from the medieval term "rakk" which meant a rack or a frame used to torture people, and "ruin" which means destruction or decay.
rack and ruin. something that is going to rack and ruin is falling into a very bad condition, because nobody is looking after it or dealing properly with it. The country is going to rack and ruin under this government.
Rack and ruin. When something goes to rack and ruin it means complete destruction or worthlessness and unlike rack one’s brains, it has nothing to do with rack as in the medieval torture device.
Become decayed, decline or fall apart, as in After the founder's death the business went to rack and ruin. These expressions are emphatic redundancies, since rack and wrack (which are actually variants of the same word) mean "destruction" or "ruin."
Jun 2, 2024 · Etymologically incorrect, due to confusion of rack (“torture, suffer”) with wrack (“destroy”). Correct is wrack and ruin, which is accordingly preferred by style guides; however, both are common and well-established.
