Rack and ruin
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
A state of severe decay, destruction or collapse, especially after prolonged neglect or waste. Most often appears in go to or fall into rack and ruin. Wrack and ruin is an accepted historical spelling, but rack here does not refer to a torture rack. Regional use: Sixteenth-century English; now especially British and Commonwealth English.
Origin
The rack in rack and ruin is historically a spelling variant of wrack, related to wreck and destruction, not the stretching instrument used for torture. Earlier stages include go to wreck in 1548 and wracke and ruine in 1577; the exact spelling rack and ruin is located in Thomas Fowler's writing of 1599. Those records show a sixteenth-century family of forms rather than a single moment of invention. Both rack and wrack have remained in use, although modern dictionaries and style guides differ over preference.
Research Sources
Variants
- Wrack and ruin
- Go to rack and ruin
Usage Examples
- Years of leaking roofs allowed the once-grand hotel to fall into rack and ruin.
- The owner refused to watch the orchard go to rack and ruin after the storm.
- Without maintenance, the entire irrigation system will soon fall into rack and ruin.