Wreak
(Wreak) v. i. To reck; to care. [Obs.] Shak.
Wreak
(Wreak) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wreaked ; p. pr. & vb. n. Wreaking.] [OE. wrek to revenge,
punish, drive out, AS. wrecan; akin to OFries. wreka, OS. wrekan to punish, D. wreken to avenge, G.
rächen, OHG. rehhan, Icel. reka to drive, to take vengeance, Goth. wrikan to persecute, Lith. vargas
distress, vargti to suffer distress, L. urgere to drive, urge, Gr. to shut, Skr. to turn away. Cf. Urge,
Wreck, Wretch.]
1. To revenge; to avenge. [Archaic]
He should wreake him on his foes.
Chaucer.
Another's wrongs to wreak upon thyself.
Spenser.
Come wreak his loss, whom bootless ye complain.
Fairfax. 2. To execute in vengeance or passion; to inflict; to hurl or drive; as, to wreak vengeance on an enemy.
On me let Death wreak all his rage.
Milton.
Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of seventeen years.
Macaulay.
But gather all thy powers,
And wreak them on the verse that thou dost weave.
Bryant. Wreak
(Wreak), n. [Cf. AS. wræc exile, persecution, misery. See Wreak, v. t.] Revenge; vengeance; furious
passion; resentment. [Obs.] Shak. Spenser.
Wreaken
(Wreak"en) obs. p. p. of Wreak. Chaucer.
Wreaker
(Wreak"er) n. [See Wreak.] Avenger. [Obs.]
The stork, the wrekere of avouterye [adultery].
Chaucer. Wreakful
(Wreak"ful) a. Revengeful; angry; furious. [Obs.] — Wreak"ful*ly, adv. [Obs.]
Wreakless
(Wreak"less), a. Unrevengeful; weak. [Obs.]
Wreath
(Wreath) n.; pl. Wreaths [OE. wrethe, AS. wr&aemacrð a twisted band, fr. wriðan to twist.
See Writhe.]
1. Something twisted, intertwined, or curled; as, a wreath of smoke; a wreath of flowers. "A wrethe of
gold." Chaucer.
[He] of his tortuous train
Curled many a wanton wreath.
Milton. 2. A garland; a chaplet, esp. one given to a victor.
Conquest doth grant
He dear wreath to the Grecian combatant.
Chapman.
Far back in the ages,
The plow with wreaths was crowned.
Bryant. 3. (Her.) An appendage to the shield, placed above it, and supporting the crest It generally represents
a twist of two cords of silk, one tinctured like the principal metal, the other like the principal color in the
arms.
Wreathe
(Wreathe) v. t. [imp. Wreathed ; p. p. Wreathed; Archaic Wreathen ; p. pr. & vb. n. Wreathing.]
[See Wreath, n.] [Written also wreath.]
