Search Result for "raking": 

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Raking \Rak"ing\ (r[=a]k"[i^]ng), n. 1. The act or process of using a rake; the going over a space with a rake. [1913 Webster] 2. A space gone over with a rake; also, the work done, or the quantity of hay, grain, etc., collected, by going once over a space with a rake. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Rake \Rake\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Raked (r[=a]kt); 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 4. To search through; to scour; to ransack. [1913 Webster] The statesman rakes the town to find a plot. --Swift. [1913 Webster] 5. To scrape or scratch across; to pass over quickly and lightly, as a rake does. [1913 Webster] Like clouds that rake the mountain summits. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] To rake up. (a) To collect together, as the fire (live coals), and cover with ashes. (b) To bring up; to search out and bring to notice again; as, to rake up old scandals. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

muckrake \muck"rake`\ (m[u^]k"r[=a]k`), v. i. [imp. & p. p. -raked; p. pr. & vb. n. -raking.] To seek for, expose, or charge, especially habitually, corruption, real or alleged, on the part of public men and corporations. Note: On April 14, 1906, President Roosevelt delivered a speech on "The Man with the Muck Rake," in which he deprecated sweeping and unjust charges of corruption against public men and corporations. The phrase was taken up by the press, and the verb to muckrake, in the above sense, and the noun muckraker, to designate one so engaged, were speedily coined and obtained wide currency. The original allusion was to a character in Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" so intent on raking up muck that he could not see a celestial crown held above him. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]