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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1990 (DOST Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Rak, n.² Also: rack(e. Pl. also rakkis, rakes, rax. [e.m.E. rakk(e a bar (usu. in pl.) or set of bars (1390), also rekke (c1305), rake (1424), also a frame of upright bars, etc. (15th c.), MDu. rac, (L)G rack, applied to various contrivances (as a horizontal bar or pole, etc.) on which things are hung or placed. See also Reke n.³ Cf. Rak n.³Bense, however, finds no evidence of MDu. or MLG origin, and ‘can only regard the English and the continental words as cognates’.]

a. A set of bars or a framework (sometimes specified as of iron) used to support a spit or other cooking utensil. Usu. pl. Cf. Rax n. b. A bar or framework put to various other uses. c. Plaitt rack, a frame to hold plates, a plate-rack.

a. pl.(a) 1489–90 Acta Conc. I 131/2.
The siluer lawar brandrethe and rakkis 1519 Reg. Episc. Aberd. II 175.
ij irne rakkis for the fyre 1534 Selkirk B. Ct. (ed.) 144.
Ane gret spet of irne with the rakis 1542 Rec. Univ. Aberd. 573.
Fowr gret spitt, with iiii rakkis efferand thairto 1548 Edinb. B. Rec. II 136.
Ane irne chymnay with rakkis, cruke, tangis and speitt 1552 Dundee B. Ct. II fol. 171b (13 July).
Ane pare of yrne rackis c1560 Acts & Decr. in Lynd. (S.T.S.) IV 276.
Twa standand rackis of yrne 1561–2 Edinb. Old Acc. I 373.
vij stane and ane halfe of iron maid … in raks to the banqhet 1570 Prot. Bk. A. Millar 4b.
Rakis 1571 Hawick Arch. Soc. (1878) Sept. meeting.
Foure iron rakkis … price of the stane xvi s. 1579 Reg. Privy C. III 364. 1620 Edinb. Test. L 332. 1645 Sc. Hist. Rev. XXX 147.
For rackis to the chymney quhich I lent them(b) 1561 Aberd. B. Rec. I 336.
Ane pair of rax [pr. vax], ane roist irne, ane taingis 1601 Reg. Privy C. VI 280.
[A pair of iron] rax 1666 Kirkcudbr. Sheriff Ct. Processes No. 8.
Item tua pair rax(c) 1672 Haigs of Bemersyde 475.
Spits and rakes, 2 pare, £2sing. 1500 Acta Conc. II 468.
A rak with ane fryane pane 1533–4 Selkirk B. Ct. (ed.) 136.
Ane irne speit with ane rak 1534 Ib. 144.b. 1635 Boharm Kirk S. 4 June.
For putting to ane racke of yron to the bell when it was putt up 1686 Elgin Rec. II 312.
For iron for making rakes for the hearsesc. 1689 Brechin Test. VII 211.
Ane plaitt rack or carier ix s.

d. Some part of a plough. ‘It may refer to a rod or bar or framework between the rear end of the mould-board and the sole or the side of the stilt’ (A. Fenton Tools & Tillage Vol. I:3 (1970) p. 184. — c1500-50 Pleugh-song in 1662 Forbes Cantus (ed. 1666).
All that belongs to the pleugh … the pleugh-head, sok sheet … , Rack [etc.] 1588 Kinnaird Farm Bk. fol. 108.
Ane cwter ane sok ane rak and cheik lone