Mangle rack. (Mach.) See under Mangle, n. -- Rack block. (Naut.) See
def. 1 (f), above. -- Rack lashing, a lashing or binding where the rope
is tightened, and held tight by the use of a small stick of wood
twisted around. -- Rack rail (Railroads), a toothed rack, laid as a
rail, to afford a hold for teeth on the driving wheel of a locomotive
for climbing steep gradients, as in ascending a mountain. -- Rack saw,
a saw having wide teeth. -- Rack stick, the stick used in a rack
lashing. -- To be on the rack, to suffer torture, physical or mental.
-- To live at rack and manger, to live on the best at another's
expense. [Colloq.] -- To put to the rack, to subject to torture; to
torment.
A fit of the stone puts a king to the rack, and makes him as
miserable as it does the meanest subject.
Sir W. Temple.
Rack (rk), v. t. 1. To extend by the application of force; to stretch
or strain; specifically, to stretch on the rack or wheel; to torture by
an engine which strains the limbs and pulls the joints.
He was racked and miserably tormented.
Foxe.