from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Rake \Rake\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Raked} (r[=a]kt); p. pr. & vb.
n. {Raking}.] [AS. racian. See 1st {Rake}.]
1. To collect with a rake; as, to rake hay; -- often with up;
as, he raked up the fallen leaves.
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2. Hence: To collect or draw together with laborious
industry; to gather from a wide space; to scrape together;
as, to rake together wealth; to rake together slanderous
tales; to rake together the rabble of a town.
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3. To pass a rake over; to scrape or scratch with a rake for
the purpose of collecting and clearing off something, or
for stirring up the soil; as, to rake a lawn; to rake a
flower bed.
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4. To search through; to scour; to ransack.
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The statesman rakes the town to find a plot.
--Swift.
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5. To scrape or scratch across; to pass over quickly and
lightly, as a rake does.
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Like clouds that rake the mountain summits.
--Wordsworth.
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6. (Mil.) To enfilade; to fire in a direction with the length
of; in naval engagements, to cannonade, as a ship, on the
stern or head so that the balls range the whole length of
the deck.
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{To rake up}.
(a) To collect together, as the fire (live coals), and
cover with ashes.
(b) To bring up; to search out and bring to notice again;
as, to rake up old scandals.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
muckrake \muck"rake`\ (m[u^]k"r[=a]k`), v. i. [imp. & p. p.
{-raked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {-raking}.]
To seek for, expose, or charge, especially habitually,
corruption, real or alleged, on the part of public men and
corporations.
Note: On April 14, 1906, President Roosevelt delivered a
speech on "The Man with the Muck Rake," in which he
deprecated sweeping and unjust charges of corruption
against public men and corporations. The phrase was
taken up by the press, and the verb to {muckrake}, in
the above sense, and the noun muckraker, to designate
one so engaged, were speedily coined and obtained wide
currency. The original allusion was to a character in
Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" so intent on raking up
muck that he could not see a celestial crown held above
him.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]