raking
Variant of rake
rake (rāk)
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
Etymology: 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 rak′·ing
- 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
Etymology: ME raken < the n.; also in part < ON raka, to scrape, shave
intransitive verb
- to use a rake
- to search as if with a rake
- to scrape or sweep: with over, across, etc.
rake in
rake up
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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