Wreck

7 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wreck \Wreck\, v. t. & n.
     See 2d & 3d {Wreak}.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Wreck \Wreck\, n. [OE. wrak, AS. wr[ae]c exile, persecution,
     misery, from wrecan to drive out, punish; akin to D. wrak,
     adj., damaged, brittle, n., a wreck, wraken to reject, throw
     off, Icel. rek a thing drifted ashore, Sw. vrak refuse, a
     wreck, Dan. vrag. See {Wreak}, v. t., and cf. {Wrack} a
     marine plant.] [Written also {wrack}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. The destruction or injury of a vessel by being cast on
        shore, or on rocks, or by being disabled or sunk by the
        force of winds or waves; shipwreck.
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              Hard and obstinate
              As is a rock amidst the raging floods,
              'Gainst which a ship, of succor desolate,
              Doth suffer wreck, both of herself and goods.
                                                    --Spenser.
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     2. Destruction or injury of anything, especially by violence;
        ruin; as, the wreck of a railroad train.
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              The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.
                                                    --Addison.
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              Its intellectual life was thus able to go on amidst
              the wreck of its political life.      --J. R. Green.
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     3. The ruins of a ship stranded; a ship dashed against rocks
        or land, and broken, or otherwise rendered useless, by
        violence and fracture; as, they burned the wreck.
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     4. The remain of anything ruined or fatally injured.
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              To the fair haven of my native home,
              The wreck of what I was, fatigued I come. --Cowper.
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     5. (Law) Goods, etc., which, after a shipwreck, are cast upon
        the land by the sea. --Bouvier.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wreck \Wreck\, v. i.
     1. To suffer wreck or ruin. --Milton.
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     2. To work upon a wreck, as in saving property or lives, or
        in plundering.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wreck \Wreck\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wrecked}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Wrecking}.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. To destroy, disable, or seriously damage, as a vessel, by
        driving it against the shore or on rocks, by causing it to
        become unseaworthy, to founder, or the like; to shipwreck.
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              Supposing that they saw the king's ship wrecked.
                                                    --Shak.
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     2. To bring wreck or ruin upon by any kind of violence; to
        destroy, as a railroad train.
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     3. To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to
        balk of success, and bring disaster on.
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              Weak and envied, if they should conspire,
              They wreck themselves.                --Daniel.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  wreck
       n 1: something or someone that has suffered ruin or dilapidation;
            "the house was a wreck when they bought it"; "thanks to
            that quack I am a human wreck"
       2: an accident that destroys a ship at sea [syn: {shipwreck}]
       3: a serious accident (usually involving one or more vehicles);
          "they are still investigating the crash of the TWA plane"
          [syn: {crash}]
       4: a ship that has been destroyed at sea
       v : smash or break forcefully; "The kid busted up the car" [syn:
            {bust up}, {wrack}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  227 Moby Thesaurus words for "wreck":
     accident, assault, atomize, attack, auto, autocar, automobile,
     bankrupt, barbarize, batter, beach, blight, bloodbath, blow,
     blue ruin, boat, botch, break to pieces, breakdown, breaking up,
     breakup, bring to ruin, brutalize, bugger, buggy, burn, bus,
     butcher, calamity, car, carcass, carnage, carry on, cast away,
     casualty, cataclysm, catastrophe, cave, cave-in, cleave, collapse,
     collision, condemn, confound, consume, consumption, contretemps,
     crack-up, crash, crate, cripple, damn, damnation, de-energize,
     deal destruction, debacle, debilitate, decimate, decimation,
     demolish, depredate, depredation, desolate, desolation, despoil,
     despoilment, despoliation, destroy, destruction, devastate,
     devastation, devour, dilapidate, disable, disassemble, disaster,
     disenable, disintegrate, disintegration, dismantle,
     disorganization, disruption, dissolution, dissolve, do in, dog,
     drain, enfeeble, engorge, force, fragment, go on, gobble,
     gobble up, grief, ground, gut, gut with fire, hammer, hamstring,
     havoc, heap, hecatomb, holocaust, hors de combat, hulk, ill hap,
     impose, inactivate, incapacitate, incinerate, jalopy, kibosh, lame,
     lay in ruins, lay waste, loot, machine, maim, make mincemeat of,
     mar, maul, mere wreck, misadventure, mischance, misfortune, mishap,
     motor, motor vehicle, motorcar, motorized vehicle, mug, nasty blow,
     nervous wreck, perdition, pick to pieces, pile up, pileup, pillage,
     play havoc with, plunder, pull in pieces, pull to pieces,
     pulverize, put, queer, queer the works, rage, ramp, rampage, rant,
     rape, rattletrap, ravage, rave, raze, reduce to rubble, rend, riot,
     roar, ruin, ruinate, ruination, ruins, run aground, sabotage, sack,
     savage, shambles, shatter, shipwreck, shock, skeleton, slaughter,
     smash, smashup, sow chaos, spike, split, spoil, spoliation,
     staggering blow, storm, strand, subvert, sunder, swallow up,
     take apart, take the ground, tear, tear apart, tear around,
     tear to pieces, tear to shreds, tear to tatters, terrorize,
     throw into disorder, total, total loss, tragedy, trash, tub,
     unbuild, undermine, undo, undoing, unfit, unleash destruction,
     unleash the hurricane, unmake, upheave, vandalism, vandalize,
     vaporize, violate, visit, voiture, washout, waste, weaken, wheels,
     wing, wrack, wrack and ruin, wrack up, wreak, wreak havoc
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  WRECK, mar. law. A wreck (called in law Latin, wreccum maris, and in law 
  French, wrec de mer,) signifies such goods, as after a shipwreck, are cast 
  upon land by the sea, and left there within some county, so as not to belong 
  to the jurisdiction of the admiralty, but to the common law. 2 Inst. 167; 
  Bract. 1. 3, c. 3; Mirror, c. 1, s. 13, and c. 3. 
       2. The term `wreck of the sea' includes, 1. Goods found at low water, 
  between high and low water mark; and 2. Goods between the same limits, 
  partly resting on the ground, but still moved by the water. 3 Hagg. Adm. R. 
  257. 
       3. When goods have touched the ground, and have again been floated by 
  the tide, and are within low water mark; whether they are to be considered 
  wreck will depend upon the circumstances whether they were, seized by a 
  person wading, or swimming, or in a boat. 3 Hagg. Adm. R. 294. But if a 
  human being, or even an animal, as a dog, cat, hawk, &c. escape alive from 
  the ship, or if there be any marks upon the goods by which they may be known 
  again, they are not, at common law, considered as wrecked. 5 Burr. 2738-9; 2 
  Chit. Com. Law, c. 6, p. 102; 2 Kent, Com. 292; 22 Vin. Ab. 535; 1 Bro. Civ. 
  Law, 238; Park, Ins. Index, h.t.; Molloy, Jur. Mar. Index, h.t. 
       4. The act of congress of March 1, 1823, provides, Sec. 21, That, 
  before any goods, wares or merchandise, which may be taken from any wreck, 
  shall be admitted to an entry, the same shall be appraised in the manner 
  prescribed in the sixteenth section of this act and the same proceedings 
  shall be ordered and executed in all cases where a reduction of duties shall 
  be claimed on account of damage which any goods, wares, or merchandise, 
  shall have sustained in the course of the voyage and in all cases where the 
  owner, importer, consignee, or agent, shall be dissatisfied with such 
  appraisement, he shall be entitled to the privileges provided in the 
  eighteenth section of this act. Vide Naufrage.