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racket

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Racket

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English raket, of uncertain origin.

Possibly cognate with Middle French rachette, requette (“palm of the hand”). From Arabic رَاحَةْ اَلْيَد (rāḥat al-yad, “palm of the hand”).[1]

Alternatively, the term might be derived from Dutch raketsen instead, from Middle French rachasser (“to strike (the ball) back”).[2]

Noun

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racket (plural rackets)

  2. (countable, sports) An implement with a handle connected to a round frame strung with wire, sinew, or plastic cords, and used to hit a ball, such as in tennis or a shuttlecock in badminton.
    Synonyms: bat, paddle, racquet
  3. (Canada) A snowshoe formed of cords stretched across a long and narrow frame of light wood.
  4. A broad wooden shoe or patten for a man or horse, to allow walking on marshy or soft ground.
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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racket (third-person singular simple present rackets, present participle racketing, simple past and past participle racketed)

  1. To strike with, or as if with, a racket.
    • 1658, John Hewytt, Nine Select Sermons:
      Poor man [is] racketed from one temptation to another.
Further reading
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Etymology 2

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A reference to the book War Is a Racket by Smedley Butler.

Attested since the 1500s, of unclear origin; possibly a metathesis of the dialectal term rattick (“to shake, rattle”).[3]

Noun

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racket (plural rackets)

  1. A loud noise.
    Synonyms: din, noise, ruckus, row
    Power tools work quickly, but they sure make a racket.
    With all the racket they're making, I can't hear myself think!
    What's all this racket?
  2. An illegal scheme for profit; a fraud or swindle; or both coinstantiated.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:deception
    prostitution and gambling controlled by rackets
    They had quite a racket devised to relieve customers of their money.
    • 1930, William E. Lewis, quotee, “Claims Racket Controls Milk / Producers Are Going Broke—No Chance to Operate Profitably on Present Prices”, in Unity Dairymen's News‎[1], volume 2, number 11: September, Utica, New York, page 4:
      The following letter by William E. Lewis, Utica, published in both the Observer-Dispatch and the Daily Press, is reproduced here because of its bearing on the milk situation locally and elsewhere. Mr. Lewis' letter: […] Finally, in addition to ruinous price control, the farmer in the Mohawk Valley is up against a "milk racket" in Utica, a "racket" as heinous and disreputable as any milk racket in New York City or Chicago. There is no free market in Utica. The owner of a herd of 40 cows can't sell his milk in Utica, no matter how rich, pure and wholesome his milk may be, unless he signs a contract with the Dairymen's League (which never has distributed milk in Utica) through the farmers' contract to the dealers (who is in the milk racket) and who sells the poor pinched farmers' milk for 17¢ a quart which has cost him 3½¢ to 4½¢ per quart. It is a "racket" pure and simple. The Dairymen's League rakeoff is 5¢ per 100 pounds of milk and 15¢ for financing the "business." How can that be, inquires the farmer with 40 cows and 500 quarts of milk daily to sell. The answer is, that about 30 months ago the largest retail dealers of Utica experienced a shortage of milk, and applied to the Dairymen's League for a relief supply of milk, which was furnished, but on condition, however, that the dealers force their producing farmers to sign contracts with the Dairymen's League or be turned out of the market. With no market to go to, the farmers stood for the "racket," all except a few, who have given their choice cows to the butcher rather than submit. Among the victims of this "turn off" was the writer, owner of 40 cows and a farm in the Mohawk Valley. A "racket" is a detestable thing, if it results in 17¢ a quart to the consumer and 4½¢ price to the farmer.
    • 1935, Smedley Butler, War is a Racket, page 1 & 7:
      War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and "we must all put our shoulders to the wheel," but the profits... skyrocket—and are safely pocketed.
    • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift, page 408:
      In six decades he had spotted all the rackets, smelled all the rats, and he was tired of being the absolute and sick master and boss of the inner self.
  3. (dated, slang) A carouse; any reckless dissipation.
  4. (dated, slang) Something taking place considered as exciting, trying, unusual, etc. or as an ordeal.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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racket (third-person singular simple present rackets, present participle racketing, simple past and past participle racketed)

  1. (intransitive) To make a clattering noise.
  2. (intransitive, dated) To be dissipated; to carouse.

References

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  1. ^ American Heritage Dictionary, Racket; https://web.archive.org/web/20130714083021/http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=racket
  2. ^ Gillmeister, Heiner (1998) Tennis: A Cultural History, Washington Square, N.Y.: New York University Press, →ISBN, pages 5, 123
  3. ^ “racket”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Anagrams

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Dutch

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Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology

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Borrowed from English racket.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: rac‧ket

Noun

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racket n (plural rackets, diminutive racketje n)

  1. [[]]racket (sports implement)
    Synonym: raket

Derived terms

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French

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Etymology

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From English racket.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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racket m (plural rackets)

  1. racketeering
  2. racket, extortion

Further reading

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Italian

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Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English racket.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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racket m (invariable)

  1. racketeering
  2. racket, extortion

Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ racket in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Arabic رَاحَة (rāḥa, “palm of the hand”), via French raquette, and English racket.

Noun

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racket m (definite singular racketen, indefinite plural racketer, definite plural racketene)

  1. (sports) a racket or racquet
  2. (table tennis) a bat, or paddle (US)

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Arabic رَاحَة (rāḥa, “palm of the hand”), via French raquette, and English racket.

Noun

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racket m (definite singular racketen, indefinite plural racketar, definite plural racketane)

  1. (sports) a racket or racquet
  2. (table tennis) a bat, or paddle (US)

References

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Romanian

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Etymology

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From French racket.

Noun

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racket m (plural rackeți)

  1. racketeer

Declension

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Declension of racket
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative racket racketul rackeți rackeții
genitive-dative racket racketului rackeți rackeților
vocative racketule rackeților

Swedish

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Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia sv

Noun

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racket c

  1. (sports) a racket

Usage notes

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Controversial grammatical gender. Both "ett racket" and "ett rack" (perhaps from interpreting "-et" as a neuter definite suffix) are fairly common as well.

Declension

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Declension of racket
nominative genitive
singular indefinite racket rackets
definite racketen racketens
plural indefinite racketar racketars
definite racketarna racketarnas

Derived terms

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Noun

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racket

  1. definite singular of rack

References

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