rack-rent









rack-rent


rack-rent [rak-rent] ExamplesWord Origin noun

  1. Also rack rent. rent equal to or nearly equal to the full annual value of a property.

verb (used with object)

  1. to exact the highest possible rent for.
  2. to demand rack-rent from.

Origin of rack-rent First recorded in 1600–10 Related formsrack-rent·er, noun Examples from the Web for rack-rent Historical Examples of rack-rent

  • He and his successors contracted to pay a full or rack-rent of xijd.

    A History of Giggleswick School

    Edward Allen Bell

  • Those who carry snuff-boxes are only his tenants; and hold them merely by virtue of a rack-rent, under him.

    Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 1, December 11, 1841

    Various

  • Thus, how miserable is the condition of the peasants in Russia, of the Irish “rack-rent” tenants!

    Socialism and the Social Movement in the 19th Century

    Werner Sombart

  • Another common term is found in the word Head-rent, of which Gladstonians know no more than of Rack-rent.

    Ireland as It Is

    Robert John Buckley (AKA R.J.B.)

  • Will they rack-rent their tenants in such a manner as to deprive them of the means of improving the estate?

    Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856, Vol. I (of 16)

    Thomas Hart Benton

  • British Dictionary definitions for rack-rent rack-rent noun

    1. a high rent that annually equals or nearly equals the value of the property upon which it is charged
    2. any extortionate rent

    verb

    1. to charge an extortionate rent for (property, land, etc)

    Derived Formsrack-renter, nounWord Origin for rack-rent C17: from rack 1 (sense 12) + rent 1

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