WREAK • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Wreak

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verb

Wreak v. t. (past & past part. wreaked; pres. part. wreaking)

To revenge; to avenge. (Archaic) "He should wreake him on his foes." "Another's wrongs to wreak upon thyself." "Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain."

To inflict or execute, especially in vengeance or passion; to hurl or drive; as, to wreak vengeance on an enemy; to wreak havoc. Note: The word wrought is sometimes assumed to be the past tense of wreak, as the phrases wreak havoc and wrought havoc are both commonly used. In fact, wrought havoc is not as common as wreaked havoc. Whether wrought is considered as the past tense of wreak or of work, wrought havoc has essentially the same meaning. Etymologically, however, wrought is only the past tense of work. "On me let Death wreak all his rage." "Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of seventeen years." "But gather all thy powers, And wreak them on the verse that thou dost weave."

Wreak v. i. To reck; to care. (Obs.)

noun

Wreak n. Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Wreak'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Wreak" Quotes from Famous Books

... to him. That would give him a little over six weeks. Escape? Nothing short of a miracle could effect that, he told himself, remembering the immense tract of desolate country surrounding the fastnesses of the Ba-gcatya, and the ferocious cannibal hordes which lay beyond these, and who indeed would wreak a vengeance of the most barbarous kind upon their old enemy and scourge, the slaver-chief, did they find him alone, and to that extent no longer formidable, in ...

— The Sign of the Spider • Bertram Mitford

... it all now," she said, her tamed and disciplined anger only expressing itself in the elaborate mockery of her tone and manner. "You have got a grudge of your own against Sir Percival Glyde, and I must help you to wreak it. I must tell you this, that, and the other about Sir Percival and myself, must I? Yes, indeed? You have been prying into my private affairs. You think you have found a lost woman to deal with, who lives here on sufferance, and who will do anything you ask for fear you may injure her in the ...

— The Woman in White • Wilkie Collins

... replied Godfrey, irritated and disillusioned in seeing his future pictured in colors so sombre. "But if I return with only one more horse than thou sayest, I shall wreak frightful vengeance upon thee. I shall throw thy body to the dogs, and I shall put to death ...

— Rashi • Maurice Liber

... morning of doom, I took him with me to look for the shepherd and the lost lamb. Ah! woe is me! He was lying in wait. He had told me, when as I sat late in the porch one evening, that he would have my boy, and I knew he would wreak his vengeance on me by this cruel deed. I seized Ambrose by the hand and ran—you know the rest—I fell unconscious; and when I awoke from my stupor, the light of my eyes was gone ...

— Penshurst Castle - In the Days of Sir Philip Sidney • Emma Marshall

... monstrous to imagine that a number of Orientals— marked men, every one, no matter what disguises they might adopt— should dare bid defiance to the forces of the British Constitution in order that they might wreak vengeance on those more enlightened compatriots who wished to see their country rescued from the effete control of ...

— Number Seventeen • Louis Tracy

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