rack and ruin
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
1599, variant of wrack and ruin.[1]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun[edit]
- (idiomatic, proscribed) Complete destruction.
- 1599, Thomas Fowler, The history of Corpus Christi College:
- In the mean season the College shall goe to rack and ruin.[1]
Usage notes[edit]
Etymologically incorrect, due to confusion of rack (“torture, suffer”) with wrack (“destroy”). Correct is wrack and ruin, which is accordingly preferred by style guides; however, both are common and well-established. Unusually, rack and ruin replaces wrack with rack, presumably by alliteration; other confusions instead replace rack with wrack.
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Gary Martin, “Rack and ruin”, The Phrase Finder