## Meanings
1. A frame or shelf for holding or hanging things.
2. To cause someone great physical or mental pain.
3. A device once used to torture people by stretching their bodies.

## Examples
- He hung his wet coat on the rack by the door.
- She racked her brains trying to remember his name.
- Prisoners were tortured on the rack during that cruel period.

## Derived Forms
- armrack
- autorack
- birack
- bookrack
- coat-rack
- coatrack
- dishrack
- eurorack
- gunrack
- hat-rack
- hatrack
- hayrack

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: reken
- Root: reka
- Root: rak
- Root: rek

## Etymology
From Middle English reken, from Old Norse reka (“to be drifted, tost”) The noun is from Middle English rak, rakke, from Middle English rek (“drift; thing tossed ashore; jetsam”), from the verb.

## AI Etymology
Rack comes from Middle English reken, from Old Norse reka (“to be drifted, tost”) The noun is from Middle English rak, rakke, from Middle English rek (“drift; thing tossed ashore; jetsam”), from the verb. Modern senses include a frame or shelf for holding or hanging things. and to cause someone great physical or mental pain.. The wider word family includes derivatives such as armrack, autorack, birack, bookrack, coat-rack, and coatrack.

## Topics
- People & Society

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