rake

rake¹ [reık] n

[Sense: 1-2; Origin: Old English racu]

[Sense: 3; Date: 1600-1700; Origin: Origin unknown]

1.)

a gardening tool with a row of metal teeth at the end of a long handle, used for making soil level, gathering up dead leaves etc

▪ a garden rake

2.) old-fashioned a man who has many sexual relationships, drinks too much alcohol etc

3.) [singular]

the angle of a slope

▪ the rake of the stage

rake ²

rake² v

1.) [I and T]

to move a rake across a surface in order to make the soil level, gather dead leaves etc

rake sth over/up

▪ She raked the soil over to loosen the weeds.

2.) [I always + adverb/preposition]

to search a place very carefully for something

rake through/around

▪ I've been raking through my drawers looking for those tickets.

3.) [T]

to point something such as a gun, camera, or strong light, and keep moving across an area

= ↑sweep

▪ The searchlight raked the open ground around the prison.

rake sth with sth

▪ They raked the room with gunfire.

4.) [T]

to push a stick backwards and forwards in a fire in order to remove ↑ashes

5.) rake over the past/old coals

to keep talking about something that happened in the past that people would prefer you not to mention

6.) rake your fingers (through sth)

to pull your fingers through something or across a surface

▪ Ken raked his fingers through his hair.

rake in [rake sth<=>in] phr v

to earn a lot of money without trying very hard

▪ Lou's been raking in the dollars since he opened his business.

▪ If someone opened a burger bar, they'd really rake it in .

rake up [rake sth<=>up] phr v

1.) to talk about something from the past that people would prefer you not to mention

= ↑dredge up

▪ It upsets Dad when that story is raked up again.

2.) also rake sth<=>together

to collect things or people together for a purpose, but with difficulty

▪ They could only rake up $300.