Rake \Rake\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raked; 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.
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.
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.
4. To search through; to scour; to ransack.
The statesman rakes the town to find a plot.
--Swift.
5. To scrape or scratch across; to pass over quickly and
lightly, as a rake does.
Like clouds that rake the mountain summits.
--Wordsworth.
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.
To rake up.
(a) To collect together, as the fire (live coals), and
cover with ashes.
(b) To bring up; to search out an bring to notice again;
as, to rake up old scandals.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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