rack-rent

[ rak-rent ]

/ ˈrækˌrɛnt /

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noun

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

verb (used with object)

to exact the highest possible rent for.

to demand rack-rent from.

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Origin of rack-rent

First recorded in 1600–10

OTHER WORDS FROM rack-rent

rack-renter, noun

Words nearby rack-rent

rack off, rack one's brain, rack out, rack rail, rack railway, rack-rent, rack saw, rack up, rackwork, raclette, racon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use rack-rent in a sentence

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.)
I won't ask a rack rent, I promise you, and I suppose I could distrain on these tea things and the kettle if it were not paid up.
Bosom Friends|Angela Brazil
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
There is the same system of rack-rent in the one as in the other, and the same uncertainty in the rate of the Government demand.
A Journey through the Kingdom of Oude, Volumes I & II|William Sleeman

He and his successors contracted to pay a full or rack-rent of xijd.
A History of Giggleswick School|Edward Allen Bell

British Dictionary definitions for rack-rent

rack-rent

noun

a high rent that annually equals or nearly equals the value of the property upon which it is charged

any extortionate rent

verb

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

Derived forms of rack-rent

rack-renter, noun

Word Origin for rack-rent

C17: from rack 1 (sense 12) + rent 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012