rake 
or scraping tilings together, evening a surface 
of loose materials, etc. in its simplest form, for use 
by hand, it consists of a bar in which the teeth are set, and 
which is fixed firmly at right angle* to a handle. Kakes are 
made in many ways for a great variety of purposes, and the 
111 1C, 
Thy thunders roaring rnl;r tin- skirs. 
Thy fatal lightning swiftly flies. 
fiiiiuliix, Paraphrase of 1's. K\\ii. 
Every mast, as it passed, 
Seemed to rake the passing clouds. 
l.HiiuMInu-. sir Hninphrejr Gilbert 
5. Milit., to fire upon, as a ship, so that the 
shot will pass lengthwise along the deek ; tire 
in the direction of the length of, as a file of 
soldiers or a parapet ; enfilade. 
They made divers shot through her (being hut inch 
hoard), and so rated her fore and aft as they must needs 
kill or hurt some of the Indians. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 226. 
Jtaking & ship is the act of cannonading a ship on the 
stern or head, so as that the halls shall scour the whole rake* 1 (rak), H. 
rakehellonian 
I he perpendicular or the horizontal. :is1 he mast, 
stem, or stem of a ship, the rafters of a roof, 
the end of a tool, etc. See the noun. 
The stem, when viewed in the sh r plan, rule* aft, tlu: 
bounding line being straight, and making an cibtnsi : I. 
With the lino forming III'' lummlary <> tli<; Initlui k. 
T/ieitrle, Xavul Arch., S HIT. 
II. Imiis. To give a rake to; cause to incline 
or slope. [Rare.] 
Every face in it |the theater] commanding the stage, 
and the whole so admirably raked and turned to that cen- 
tre that a hand can scarcely move in the great assemblage 
without the movement being seen from thrnce. 
Dickens, Uncommercial Traveller, Journey iii. 
[< rake 8 , v.~\ 1. Inclination or 
Horse-rake. A and B show details of dumping-apparatus. 
a, backpiece for holding clearer-sticks; A. steel teeth; r . pawl 
encaged with ratchet ; c , pawl disengaged from ratchet ; rf, trip for 
pawl ; e, pawl acting by its gravity to disengage ratchet ; _/", clearer- 
sticks, which clear the rake when dumping ; g, ratchet ; A, wood 
axle and cap for axle and tooth-holder; I, counter-balance for pawl ;j, 
axle ; fc, "hand-up," by which the driver can raise the teeth and keep 
them from the ground; /, trip-rod for self-dump; m, foot-lever for 
holding down teeth ; n, trip-lever attached to trip-rod / for dumping 
the rake. Pressure of the foot on locks the pawls into the ratchet 
g ; then axle and cap trim with the wheels until the pawls automati- 
cally disengage from the ratchet by striking d, when the teeth fail 
back agaic into original position. 
length of her decks ; which is one of the most dangerous 
incidents that can happen in a naval action. 
Falconer, Marine Diet. (ed. 1778). 
6f. To cover with earth raked together ; bury. 
See to rake up, below. 
Whanne thi soule is went out, & thi bodi in erthe rakid, 
Than thi bodi that was rank & Vndeuout, Of alle men is 
bihatid. Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. S9. 
To rake hell, to search, as it were, among the damned, 
implying that the person or thing referred to in the con- 
text is so bad or so extreme that an equal could scarcely 
be found even in hell. 
This man I brought to the general, assuring his excel- 
lency that if I had raked hell I could not find his match for 
his skill in mimicking the covenanters. 
Swtft, Mem. of Capt. Creichton. 
To rake up. (a) To cover with material raked or scraped . 
together; bury by overlaying with loose matter: as, to rake rlr4 Oakl n FAhrir nf rnlvlirll iilt 
up a fire (to cover it with ashes, as in a fireplace^ , ,5 j ' i L ADDr ' OI *'<> ult. 
An idle, dissolute person ; one who goes about 
slope away from a perpendicular or a horizontal 
line. The rake of a ship's mast is its inclination back- 
ward, or rarely (in some peculiar rigs) forward ; that of 
its stem or its stern (the fore rake and the rake aft (if the 
ship) is the slope inward from the upper works to the keel : 
also called hang. (See cut under patamar.) The rake of 
a roof is its pitch or slope from the ridge to the eaves. The 
rake of a saw-tooth is the angle of inclination which a 
straight line drawn through the middle of (he base of the 
tooth and its point forms with a radius also drawn through 
the middle of the base of the tooth ; of a cutting-tool, the 
slope backward and downward from the edge on either 
side or both sides. Rake in a gi hiding-mill is a sloping 
or want of balance of the runner, producing undue pres- 
sure at one edge. 
2. In coal-mining, a series of thin layers of 
ironstone lying so near each other that they 
can all be worked together. [Derbyshire, Eng. | 
S 
teeth are inserted either perpendicularly or at a greater 
or less inclination, according to requirement. Their most 
prominent uses are in agriculture and gardening, for 
[rawing together hay or grain in the field, leveling beds, 
etc. For fann-work on a large scale horse-rakes of many 
forms are used ; the above figures represent the so-called 
sulky-rake. 
2. An instrument of similar form and use with 
a blade instead of teeth, either entire, as a gam- 
blers' or a maltsters' rake, or notched so as to 
form teeth, as a furriers' rake. See the quota- 
tions. 
Here, in the sands, 
Thee [a corpse] I'll rate up, the post unsanctifled 
of murderous lechers. Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 281. 
The Bellowes whence they blowe the fire 
Of raging Lust (before) whose wanton flashes 
A tender brest rak't-vp in shamefac't ashes. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 2. 
(6) To draw from oblivion or obscurity, as something for- 
gotten or abandoned ; bring to renewed attention ; resus- 
citate ; revive : used in a more or less opprobrious sense : 
as, to rake up a forgotten quarrel. 
Nobody thinks any more of the late King than if he had 
been dead fifty years, unless it be to abuse him and to 
rake up all his vices and misdeeds. 
Grenlle, Memoirs, July 16, 1830. 
^^^^^^^^^^ i-d a mssoi^deb^ra^ S^EE 
Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, App. iii., p. 438. ness. 
in search of vicious pleasure ; a libertine ; an 
idle person of fashion. 
We have now and then rakes in the habit of .Roman sen- 
ators, and grave politicians in the dress of rakes. 
Steele, Spectator, No. 14. 
I am in a fair Way to be easy, were it not for a Club of 
Female Rake* who, under pretence of taking their inno- 
cent rambles, forsooth, and diverting the Spleen, seldom 
fail to plague me twice or thrice a day to Cheapen Tea, 
or buy a Skreen. . . . These Rakes are your idle Ladies 
of Fashion, who, having nothing to do, employ themselves 
in tumbling over my Ware. Steele, Spectator, No. 336. 
rake 4 (rak), r. i. ; pret. and pp. raked, ppr. rak- 
ing. [< rake*, .] To play the part of a rake ; 
lied lift 
The rake [for malt] ... is an iron blade, about 30 inches II. intrant. I . To use a rake ; work with a ' Ti8 his own fault > tnat wil1 ralfe and drink when ho is 
long and perhaps 2 inches broad, fixed at each end by rake, especially in drawing together hav or but lust crawled out of his S^ve 
holders to a massive wood head, to which is attached a OTfti , K Tft ., if ^L, a Sutft, Journal to Stella, xx. 
strong wood shaft, with a cross-head handle. 
lire, Diet., III. 188. 
The skin is first carded with a rake, which is the blade 
of an old shear or piece of a scythe with large teeth notched 
into its edge. Ure, Diet., IV. 380. 
Clam-rake, an instrument used for collecting the sea- 
clam, Mactra gulidissitna. Under-rake, a kind of oyster- 
rake, used mostly through holes in the ice, with handle 
15 to 20 feet long, head 1 to 2 feet wide, and iron teeth 6 
to 10 inches long. [Rhode Island.] 
rake 1 (rak), p.; pret. and pp. raked, ppr. raking. 
[< ME. raken, scrape, < AS. "racian = MD. 
rakeii = MLG. raken = Icel. Sw. raka = Dan. 
rage, rake; from the noun: see rakel, n. Cf. 
MD. reken, OHG. rechan, relihau, MHG. rechen, 
scrape together, G. reclien, rake, Goth, rikan 
(pret. rak), collect, heap up: see rakel, .] I. 
trans. 1. To gather, clear, smooth, or stir with rake 2 (rak), r. 
or as if with a rake ; treat with a rake, or some- 
thing that serves the same purpose: as, to rake 
up hay ; to rake a bed in a garden; to rake the 
fire with a poker or raker. 
They rake these coales round in the forme of a cockpit, 
and in the midst they cast the offenders to broyle to death. 
Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 144. 
Rake well the cinders, sweep the floor, 
And sift the dust behind the door. 
Coicper, Epistle to Robert Lloyd. 
2. To collect as if by the use of a rake ; gather 
assiduously or laboriously ; draw or scrape to- 
gether, up, or in. 
All was rak'd up for me, your thankful brother, 
That will dance merrily upon your grave. 
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, i. 1. 
Who had hence raked some objections against the Chris- 
tians, for these things which had not authoritie of Scrip- 
ture. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 68. 
Times when chimney-corners had benches in them, 
where old people sat poking into the ashes of the past and 
raking out traditions like live coals. 
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xviii. 
3. To make minute search in, as if with a rake ; 
look over or through carefully ; ransack: as, 
to rake all history for examples. 
The statesman rakes the town to find a plot. 
,.;, _o To make sfiftrpli with or as if with n 
rake > seek diligently for something; pry ; peer 
llere ailtl tnere - 
Those who take pleasure to be all thir life time rakeing 
in the Foundations of Old Abbies and Cathedrals. 
Milton, Hist. Eng., iv. 
But what pleasure is it to rake into the sores or to re- 
prove the Vices of a degenerate age? 
StUKngfleet, Sermons, II. iii. 
rake 2 t (rak), n. [< ME. rake (also raike), < AS. 
racu, a path (ed-racu, a river-path), from the 
root of rackl; see rack&. Cf. rake 2 , ?.] A 
course, way, road, or path. 
Rydes one a rawndoune, and his rfiyke holdes. 
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2986. 
Out of the rake of rijtwysnes renne suld he nevire. 
Women hid their necks, and veil'd their faces, 
Nor romp'd, nor rak'd, nor star'd at public places. 
Shenstane, Epil. to Dodsley's Cleone. 
'drej), n. A combined rake 
illecting specimens in nat- 
ural history. It is a heavy A-shaped iron frame, to the 
arms of which bars of iron armed with long, thin, sharp 
teeth, arranged like those of a rake, are bolted back to 
back. A rectangular frame of round iron, supporting a 
deep and fine dredge-net, is placed behind the rake, to re- 
ceive and retain the animals raked from the mud or sand. 
rakee, . See raki. 
rake-head (rak'hed), n. In lier., a bearing rep- 
resenting the head of a rake, or, more usually, 
four or five hooks or curved teeth inserted in a 
short rod. 
King Alisaunder, p. 115. rakehell (rak'hel), . and n. [A corruption of 
pret. and pp. raked, ppr. rakel, simulating rakel, ,- v 4- o bj. IK-U, as if one 
rakimj. [Early mod. E. (Sc.) also raik; < ME. so bad as to be found only by raking hell, or 
raken, < AS. racian, run, take a course, = Sw. one so reckless as to rake hell (in double allu- 
raka, run hastily; mixed with ME. raiken,rmj- siontothe "harrowing of hell": see/Vmw2and 
ken, rci/ken, < leel. reika, wander: see rake%, n.] harrotci): see rakel, and cf. to rake hell, under 
1. To take a course ; move; go; proceed. [Ob- rakel, r.] I. a. Dissolute; base; profligate, 
solete or prov. Eng. and Scotch.] 
Then Paris aprochyt, the Percians hym with: 
Radii on the right syde rakit he furth, 
And bounet into batell with a brym will. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S-X 1. 6904. 
.Vow pass we to the bold beggar 
That raked o'er the hill. 
RoUn Hood and the Beggar (Child's Ballads, V. 196). 
2. In hunting : (a) Of a hawk, to range wildly ; 
fly wide of the game. 
And farre away, amid their rakehell bands, 
They spide a Lady left all succourlesse. 
Spenser, F. Q., V. xi. 44. 
II. >i. An abandoned fellow; a wicked wretch; 
especially, a dissolute fellow ; a rake. 
Their talk was all of training, terms of art, 
Diet and seeling, jesses, leash and lure. 
" She is too noble," he said, " to check at pies, 
Nor will she rake; there is no baseness in her." 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
(b) Of a dog, to follow a wrong course. See 
the quotation. 
All young dogs are apt to rake : that is, to hunt with 
their noses close to the ground, following their birds by 
the track rather than by the wind. 
I thought it good, necessary, and my bounden duty to 
acquaint your goodness with the abominable, wicked, and 
detestable behaviour of all these rowsey, ragged rabble- 
mentof rake-hells, that under the pretence of great mis- 
ery, diseases, and other innumerable calamities, which 
they feign through great hypocrisy, do win and gain 
great alms in all places where they wily wander, to the 
utter deluding of the good givers. 
Harman, Caveat for Cursetors, p. ii. 
A sort of lewd rake-hell*, that care neither for (Jod nor 
the devil. B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iv. 1. 
A rakehell of the town, whose character is set off with 
no other accomplishment but excessive prodigality, pro- 
faneness, intemperance, and lust, is rewarded with a lady 
of great fortune to repair his own, which his vices had 
almost ruined. Sicift, Against Abolishing Christianity. 
Swift, On Dreams. 
4. To pass along with or as if with a scraping reach over, project), = Dan. rayc, project, pro- 
motion; impingel^ghtlyuponinrnoving; hence, trude, jut out; allied to AS. reccan, stretch: 
see rack 1 , retell.'] I. iittraiix. To incline from 
rake (rak) 
inn. [< 
to pass over swiftly; s'eour. 
I have been a man of the town, or rather a man of wit, 
and have been confess'd a beau, and admitted into the 
family of the rakehellonian*. 
Tom Broim, Works, II. 313. (Dames.) 
