- To rake up
- 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.
[1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
4. To search through; to scour; to ransack. [1913 Webster]
The statesman rakes the town to find a plot. --Swift. [1913 Webster]
5. To scrape or scratch across; to pass over quickly and lightly, as a rake does. [1913 Webster]
Like clouds that rake the mountain summits. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
{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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
