Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RACK, n.¹ [D. rek, rack, stretch; rekker, to stretch; Sax. racan, ræcan, Eng. to reach; G. recken, to stretch; reckbank, a rack. See Reach and Break. Class Rg, No. 18, 21, 33.]

1. An engine of torture, used for extorting confessions from criminals or suspected persons. The rack is entirely unknown in free countries.
2. Torture; extreme pain; anguish. A fit of the stone puts king to the rack and makes him as miserable as it does the meanest subject. – Temple.
3. Any instrument for stretching or extending any thing; as, a rack for bending a bow. – Temple.
4. A grate on which bacon is laid.
5. A wooden frame of open work in which hay is laid for horses and cattle for feeding.
6. The frame of bones of an animal; a skeleton. We say, a rack of bones.
7. A frame of timber on a ship's bowsprit. – Mar. Dict.