noun
- any of various long-handled tools with teeth or prongs at one end, used for gathering loose grass, hay, leaves, etc., or for smoothing broken ground
- any of various similar toothed devices: oyster rake
Origin:
ME < OE raca; akin to ON reka, spade, Ger rechen, a rake < IE base *reĝ-, to direct, put in order > right
transitive verb raked, raking
- to gather or scrape together with or as with a rake
- to make (a lawn, etc.) tidy with a rake
- to gather with great care
- to scratch or smooth with a rake, as in leveling broken ground
- to cover (a fire) with ashes
- to scratch or scrape
- to search through minutely; scour
- to direct gunfire along (a line of troops, the deck of a ship, etc.): often figurative
- to look over rapidly and searchingly
Origin:
ME raken < the n.; also in part < ON raka, to scrape, shave