racket









racket


racket 1[rak-it] SynonymsExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for racket on Thesaurus.com noun

  1. a loud noise or clamor, especially of a disturbing or confusing kind; din; uproar: The traffic made a terrible racket in the street below.
  2. social excitement, gaiety, or dissipation.
  3. an organized illegal activity, such as bootlegging or the extortion of money from legitimate business people by threat or violence.
  4. a dishonest scheme, trick, business, activity, etc.: the latest weight-reducing racket.
  5. Usually the rackets. organized illegal activities: Some say that the revenue from legalized gambling supports the rackets.
  6. Slang.
    1. an occupation, livelihood, or business.
    2. an easy or profitable source of livelihood.

verb (used without object)

  1. to make a racket or noise.
  2. to take part in social gaiety or dissipation.

Origin of racket 1 1555–65; 1890–95 for def 6; metathetic variant of dial. rattick; see rattle1 Can be confusedracket racquetSynonyms for racket See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com 1. tumult, disturbance, outcry. See noise.Antonyms for racket 1, 2. tranquillity. racket 2[rak-it] noun

  1. a light bat having a netting of catgut or nylon stretched in a more or less oval frame and used for striking the ball in tennis, the shuttlecock in badminton, etc.
  2. the short-handled paddle used to strike the ball in table tennis.
  3. rackets, (used with a singular verb) racquet(def 1).
  4. a snowshoe made in the form of a tennis racket.

Also rac·quet (for defs 1, 2, 4). Origin of racket 2 1490–1500; Middle French raquette, rachette, perhaps Arabic rāḥet, variant of rāḥah palm of the handRelated formsrack·et·like, adjective Related Words for racket fraud, graft, conspiracy, theft, scheme, extortion, swindle, shuffle, agitation, blare, wrangle, squabble, battle, free-for-all, row, disturbance, riot, babel, hubbub, clamor Examples from the Web for racket Contemporary Examples of racket

  • For all who do believe this, the very existence of Israel is a sort of fraud or a racket.

    No Drama Obama’s Israel Ambivalence

    James Poulos

    July 26, 2014

  • This past Monday afternoon, I headed off for my regular tennis game with my racket strapped to my back and my wife in her whites.

    I Heard About the Latest Crazed Shooter While I Watched the World Cup with Guys He Almost Killed

    Daniel Genis

    July 1, 2014

  • Across the street, in a chinaberry tree, a gang of sparrows are making a racket.

    Stanley Booth on the Life and Hard Times of Blues Genius Furry Lewis

    Stanley Booth

    June 7, 2014

  • They marched through the neighborhood, everybody running outside to see what the racket was all about.

    The Stacks: The Neville Brothers Stake Their Claim as Bards of the Bayou

    John Ed Bradley

    April 27, 2014

  • When I was four months old or so, my older sister was making a racket when I was sleeping.

    This Is What It Is Like To Be Deaf From Birth

    Quora Contributor

    December 23, 2013

  • Historical Examples of racket

  • I can’t understand to this day why he hadn’t raised a racket.

    The Penance of Magdalena and Other Tales of the California Missions

    J. Smeaton Chase

  • While I talked, there burst forth suddenly the racket of fifes and drums in the road.

    In the Valley

    Harold Frederic

  • I then found that I was using my Thursday’s racket instead of Tuesday’s.

    Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, July 8, 1914

    Various

  • Pray, some of you explain this; what has been the occasion of all this racket?

    The Contrast

    Royall Tyler

  • I, also, was in anger, but this racket kept me cool and made me smile.

    The Memoirs of Louis XIV., His Court and The Regency, Complete

    Duc de Saint-Simon

  • British Dictionary definitions for racket racket 1 noun

    1. a noisy disturbance or loud commotion; clamour; din
    2. gay or excited revelry, dissipation, etc
    3. an illegal enterprise carried on for profit, such as extortion, fraud, prostitution, drug peddling, etc
    4. slang a business or occupationwhat’s your racket?
    5. music
      1. a medieval woodwind instrument of deep bass pitch
      2. a reed stop on an organ of deep bass pitch

    verb

    1. (intr often foll by about) rare to go about gaily or noisily, in search of pleasure, excitement, etc

    Word Origin for racket C16: probably of imitative origin; compare rattle 1 racket 2racquet noun

    1. a bat consisting of an open network of nylon or other strings stretched in an oval frame with a handle, used to strike the ball in tennis, badminton, etc
    2. a snowshoe shaped like a tennis racket

    verb

    1. (tr) to strike (a ball, shuttlecock, etc) with a racket

    See also rackets Word Origin for racket C16: from French raquette, from Arabic rāhat palm of the hand Word Origin and History for racket n.1

    “loud noise,” 1560s, perhaps imitative. Klein compares Gaelic racaid “noise.” Meaning “dishonest activity” (1785) is perhaps from racquet, via notion of “game,” reinforced by rack-rent “extortionate rent” (1590s), from rack (n.1).

    n.2

    “handled paddle or netted bat used in tennis, etc.;” see racquet.

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