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noun Wreck n. (Written also wrack) 1.The destruction or injury of a vessel by being cast on shore, or on rocks, or by being disabled or sunk by the force of winds or waves; shipwreck. "Hard and obstinate As is a rock amidst the raging floods, 'Gainst which a ship, of succor desolate, Doth suffer wreck, both of herself and goods." 2.Destruction or injury of anything, especially by violence; ruin; as, the wreck of a railroad train. "The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds." "Its intellectual life was thus able to go on amidst the wreck of its political life." 3.The ruins of a ship stranded; a ship dashed against rocks or land, and broken, or otherwise rendered useless, by violence and fracture; as, they burned the wreck. 4.The remain of anything ruined or fatally injured. "To the fair haven of my native home, The wreck of what I was, fatigued I come." 5.(Law) Goods, etc., which, after a shipwreck, are cast upon the land by the sea.
verb Wreck v. t., n. See 2d & 3d Wreak.
Wreck v. t. (past & past part. wrecked; pres. part. wrecking) 1.To destroy, disable, or seriously damage, as a vessel, by driving it against the shore or on rocks, by causing it to become unseaworthy, to founder, or the like; to shipwreck. "Supposing that they saw the king's ship wrecked." 2.To bring wreck or ruin upon by any kind of violence; to destroy, as a railroad train. 3.To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on. "Weak and envied, if they should conspire, They wreck themselves."
Wreck v. i. 1.To suffer wreck or ruin. 2.To work upon a wreck, as in saving property or lives, or in plundering.
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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