WREAK • DICCIONARIO INGLES.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

... to her room to make preparations for leaving the den of infamy in which she had been confined, feeling well assured that but a few hours would be suffered to elapse, ere Duffel, with as many adherents as he deemed necessary to accomplish his ends, would return, to wreak his pitiless vengeance upon her. Making everything ready for her departure, she awaited the darkness of the approaching night, that in its friendly mantle she might find protection and shelter. But ere the light of day ...

— Eveline Mandeville - The Horse Thief Rival • Alvin Addison

... Boro-Boedoer in the brief twilight, mutter incantations, and brown hands grasp the silver amulets which ward off the powers of evil, for the deserted temple is still regarded as the haunt of unknown gods, who may perchance wreak vengeance on the world which has ...

— Through the Malay Archipelago • Emily Richings

... thought Captain Delano; was it to wreak in private his Spanish spite against this poor friend of his, that Don Benito, by his sullen manner, impelled me to withdraw? Ah this slavery breeds ...

— The Piazza Tales • Herman Melville

... tenderness, is without a peer, and whose personal charms have few, very very few parallels, among her sex; why, or how she should fall to the blessed lot of a poor hairum scairum poet, whom Fortune had kept for her particular use, to wreak her temper on whenever she was in ill humour. One time I conjectured, that as Fortune is the most capricious jade ever known, she may have taken, not a fit of remorse, but a paroxysm of whim, to raise the poor devil out of the mire, where he had so often and so conveniently ...

— The Letters of Robert Burns • Robert Burns

... violently attached to Pao-yue; or if that wasn't the case, my object was to gain time so as to espouse some one outside. That were I even to go up to the very heavens, I couldn't, during my lifetime, escape his clutches, and that he would, in the long run, wreak his vengeance on me.' I have obstinately made up my mind, so I may state in the presence of all of you here, that I'll, under no circumstances, marry, as long as I live, any man whatsoever, not to speak of his being a Pao-yue, (precious jade); but even a Pao Chin, (precious gold), ...

— Hung Lou Meng, Book II • Cao Xueqin

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