Category:Wreak

Wreak, v. i.

Defn: to reck; to care. [obs.] Shak.

Wreak Wreak, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wreaked; p. pr. & vb. n. Wreaking.] Etym: [oe. wrek to revenge, punish, drive out, as. wrecan; akin to ofries. Wreka, os. wrekan to punish, d. wreken to avenge, g. rächen, ohg. Rehhan, icel. reka to drive, to take vengeance, goth. wrikan to Persecute, lith. vargas distress, vargti to suffer distress, l. Urgere to drive, urge, gr. Urge, wreck, wretch.]

1. To revenge; to avenge. [archaic] He should wreake him on his foes. Chaucer. Another's wrongs to wreak upon thyself. Spenser. Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain. Fairfax.

2. To execute in vengeance or passion; to inflict; to hurl or drive; As, to wreak vengeance on an enemy. On me let death wreak all his rage. Milton. Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of Seventeen years. Macaulay. But gather all thy powers, and wreak them on the verse that thou dost Weave. Bryant.

Wreak Wreak, n. Etym: [cf. As. wræc exile, persecution, misery. See wreak, V. t.]

Defn: revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment. [obs.] Shak. Spenser.