Wiktionary:Word of the day/2020/November 10

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rake n

(agriculture, horticulture) A garden tool with a row of pointed teeth fixed to a long handle, used for collecting debris, grass, etc., for flattening the ground, or for loosening soil; also, a similar wheel-mounted tool drawn by a horse or a tractor. (by extension) A similarly shaped tool used for other purposes. (gambling) A tool with a straight edge at the end used by a croupier to move chips or money across a gaming table. [...] (Northern England and climbing, also figurative) A course, a path, especially a narrow and steep path or route up a hillside. (mining) A fissure or mineral vein of ore traversing the strata vertically, or nearly so. (British, originally Northern England, Scotland) A series, a succession; specifically (rail transport) a set of coupled rail vehicles, normally coaches or wagons. (systems theory) In cellular automata: a puffer that emits a stream of spaceships rather than a trail of debris. (Midlands, Northern England) Alternative spelling of raik (“a course, a way; pastureland over which animals graze; a journey to transport something between two places; a run; also, the quantity of items so transported”) [...] A person (usually a man) who is stylish but habituated to hedonistic and immoral conduct. English artist William Hogarth was born today in 1697. His series of paintings called A Rake’s Progress (1732–1734) depicts a rake who wastes his money on extravagant living, gambling, and prostitutes, and ends up first in prison and then in an insane asylum.

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