Difference between revisions of "Reck - wreck"

Revision as of 14:47, 8 January 2019

Reck and wreck form one of the sets of homophones listed by the then Poet Laureate Robert Bridges.
(For more, see Bridges homophones). AWE has a category listing our articles on each of these.

• Reck, now rather a rare word, can be a verb or, less commonly, a noun. Both are now comparatively obsolete
  • The verb 'to reck' means 'to think [about]', 'to be troubled by', 'to care [that]'. The archaic "What reck I?" is the same as the more current 'What do I care?'.
  • The noun, usually used with some negative qualification, is the equivalent: "He took little reck of the consequences of his lie" means 'He had no consideration for the consequences', 'he was little bothered by the thought of the consequences.'
• Wreck is common both as noun and verb.
  • The noun '[a] wreck' originally denoted things that were cast ashore [on tidal coasts] from damaged or destroyed vessels. It was later used as well to mean such a vessel, which had earlier been called a shipwreck: one that had run aground, struck rocks or reefs or other obstacles, or been in some way damaged beyond control.
    • The extension 'a pile of confused and disorderly fragments', originally "a drifted or tossed-up mass" (OED, 1928; meaning 5.) is not common nowadays, except in the spelling wrack, where it is used for seaweed such as bladderwrack..
  • The verb 'to wreck'