WREAK • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • 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

... eat were cast into the Tiber. He then discharged his armed attendants, dismissed his lictors, descended from the rostra, and retired on foot to his house, accompanied only by his friends, passing through the midst of the populace which he had given every reason to desire to wreak vengeance upon him. It was audacity of the supremest sort. Sulla afterwards withdrew to his estate at Puteoli, where he spent the brief remainder of his life in the most remarkable alternation of nocturnal orgies ...

— The Story of Rome From the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic • Arthur Gilman

... their position will naturally bring them into Charleston first; and, if you have watched the history of that corps, you will have remarked that they generally do their work pretty well. The truth is, the whole army is burning with an insatiable desire to wreak vengeance upon South Carolina. I almost tremble at her fate, but feel that she deserves all that seems in ...

— Memoirs of Three Civil War Generals, Complete • U. S. Grant, W. T. Sherman, P. H. Sheridan

... swore that he would wreak vengeance on the papacy, and, in conjunction with the Emperor, opened a Council at Pisa, which was attended by a minority of cardinals. Julius met the attack by calling a general Council to meet at the Lateran, which was the first since the ...

— Lectures on Modern history • Baron John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton

... ag'in an' ag'in ye bes' not be too sure," she said, a sob in her throat, with an obvious disposition to wreak her disappointment ...

— The Mystery of Witch-Face Mountain and Other Stories • Charles Egbert Craddock

... mind. WHO was dead? Surely it must be I—I the master of the household, who lay stiff and cold in one of those curtained rooms! This terrible white-haired man who roamed feverishly up and down outside the walls was not me—it was some angry demon risen from the grave to wreak punishment on the guilty. I was dead—I could never have killed the man who had once been my friend. And he also was dead—the same murderess had slain us both—and SHE lived! Ha! that was wrong—she must now die—but in such torture that her very ...

— Vendetta - A Story of One Forgotten • Marie Corelli

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