wreak

wreak
    v 1: cause to happen or to occur as a consequence; "I cannot
         work a miracle"; "wreak havoc"; "bring comments"; "play a
         joke"; "The rain brought relief to the drought-stricken
         area" [syn: {bring}, {work}, {play}, {wreak}, {make for}]
    

Wreak \Wreak\ (r[=e]k), v. i.
   To reck; to care. [Obs.] --Shak.
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Wreak \Wreak\ (r[=e]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wreaked} (r[=e]kt);
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Wreaking}.] [OE. wreken to revenge, punish,
   drive out, AS. wrecan; akin to OFries. wreka, OS. wrekan to
   punish, D. wreken to avenge, G. r[aum]chen, OHG. rehhan,
   Icel. reka to drive, to take vengeance, Goth. wrikan to
   persecute, Lith. vargas distress, vargti to suffer distress,
   L. urgere to drive, urge, Gr. e'i`rgein to shut, Skr. v[.r]j
   to turn away. Cf. {Urge}, {Wreck}, {Wretch}.]
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   1. To revenge; to avenge. [Archaic]
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            He should wreake him on his foes.     --Chaucer.
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            Another's wrongs to wreak upon thyself. --Spenser.
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            Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain.
                                                  --Fairfax.
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   2. To inflict or execute, especially in vengeance or passion;
      to hurl or drive; as, to wreak vengeance on an enemy; to
      wreak havoc.
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   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.
      [PJC]

            On me let Death wreak all his rage.   --Milton.
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            Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to
            wreak a grudge of seventeen years.    --Macaulay.
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            But gather all thy powers,
            And wreak them on the verse that thou dost weave.
                                                  --Bryant.
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Wreak \Wreak\, n. [Cf. AS. wr[ae]c exile, persecution, misery.
   See {Wreak}, v. t.]
   Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment. [Obs.]
   --Shak. Spenser.
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28 Moby Thesaurus words for "wreak":
      accomplish, achieve, bring, bring about, bring off, bring to pass,
      bring upon, commit, do, do to, effect, effectuate, force,
      go and do, impose, inflict, make, pay, perpetrate, produce,
      pull off, realize, render, take and do, up and do, visit,
      visit upon, wreck