wreck

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},
       {wreck}]
    3: a serious accident (usually involving one or more vehicles);
       "they are still investigating the crash of the TWA plane"
       [syn: {crash}, {wreck}]
    4: a ship that has been destroyed at sea
    v 1: smash or break forcefully; "The kid busted up the car"
         [syn: {bust up}, {wreck}, {wrack}]
    

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

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.
      [1913 Webster]

            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.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Destruction or injury of anything, especially by violence;
      ruin; as, the wreck of a railroad train.
      [1913 Webster]

            The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.
                                                  --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

            Its intellectual life was thus able to go on amidst
            the wreck of its political life.      --J. R. Green.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The remain of anything ruined or fatally injured.
      [1913 Webster]

            To the fair haven of my native home,
            The wreck of what I was, fatigued I come. --Cowper.
      [1913 Webster]

   5. (Law) Goods, etc., which, after a shipwreck, are cast upon
      the land by the sea. --Bouvier.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Wreck \Wreck\, v. i.
   1. To suffer wreck or ruin. --Milton.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To work upon a wreck, as in saving property or lives, or
      in plundering.
      [1913 Webster]
    

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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Supposing that they saw the king's ship wrecked.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To bring wreck or ruin upon by any kind of violence; to
      destroy, as a railroad train.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to
      balk of success, and bring disaster on.
      [1913 Webster]

            Weak and envied, if they should conspire,
            They wreck themselves.                --Daniel.
      [1913 Webster]
    

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. 
    

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