rack

rack

¹

1. a toothed bar designed to engage a pinion to form a mechanism that will interconvert rotary and rectilinear motions

2. a framework fixed to an aircraft for carrying bombs, rockets, etc.

3. History an instrument of torture that stretched the body of the victim

4. US and Canadian in pool, snooker, etc.

a. the triangular frame used to arrange the balls for the opening shot

b. the balls so grouped

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rack

²

a group of broken clouds moving in the wind

Rack

 

(in Russian, dyba), an instrument of torture consisting of two posts rooted in the ground and connected by a third post on which the victim was hoisted [and whipped]. It was used in Europe and Russia from the 14th to the 18th centuries. Torture on the rack was stipulated in the Pskov Judicial Charter.

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Rack

 

a single-axle tractor trailer for the mechanized loading, transport, and unloading of stacks of hay and straw with a total weight up to 6 tons, as well as sections of ricks cut by a rick cutter. Racks may also be used to haul other agricultural loads. When the trailer is used to transport stacks, the side panels are folded down, the front panel is removed, and a framework of bars to hold the stacks is mounted in place of the panels. Horizontal extensions are used to increase the load area of the bed. The rear bars of the framework are lowered to the ground for loading and unloading. Stacks are loaded onto the bed and unloaded by means of a loading grid. Prior to being transported, the stacks are bound with rope. Racks are used with tractors in the 3-ton-force class.

rack

[rak]

(aerospace engineering)

A suspension device permanently fixed to an aircraft; it is designed for attaching, arming, and releasing one or more bombs; it may also be utilized to accommodate other items such as mines, rockets, torpedoes, fuel tanks, rescue equipment, sonobuoys, and flares.

(civil engineering)

A fixed screen composed of parallel bars placed in a waterway to catch debris.

(design engineering)

relay rack

(engineering)

A frame for holding or displaying articles.

(mechanical engineering)

A bar containing teeth on one face for meshing with a gear.

(mining engineering)

An inclined trough or table for washing or separating ore.

rack

A frame or cabinet into which hardware components are mounted. Equipment may be bolted into the rack (see rack mounted), or placed on shelves. Stereo and home theater racks are cabinets with shelves designed to accommodate VCRs, CD, DVD and cassette decks, receivers, amplifiers and set-top boxes, all of which are typically 17" wide. See deck.