rack-rent

[ rak-rent ]

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.

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 Forms

• ˈrack-ˌrenter, noun

Other Words From

• rack-renter noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of rack-rent¹

First recorded in 1600–10

Word History and Origins

Origin of rack-rent¹

C17: from rack ¹(sense 12) + rent ¹

Example Sentences

But at long last we throve so well that the landlord—God forgive him—took notice of us, and envied us, and asked my father how he came by the penny he had, and wanted him to take more ground at a rack-rent that was more than any Christian ought to pay to another, seeing there was no making it.

From Project Gutenberg

Rack′-rent′er, one who exacts or pays rack-rent; Rack′-stick, a stick for stretching a rope; Rack′-tail, a bent arm in a repeating clock connected with the striking mechanism; Rack′work, a strong bar with cogs to correspond with similar cogs on a wheel, which either moves or is moved by the bar.—Live at rack and manger, to live sumptuously and wastefully; On the rack, stretched upon it: tortured by anxiety; Put to the rack, to put to the torture of the rack: to subject to keen suffering.

From Project Gutenberg

"It is a serious thing," said Oldacre, "for farmers at rack-rent to begin building houses for their poor; but I am against it, for the sake of the poor themselves."

From Project Gutenberg

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

From Project Gutenberg

Rack-rent may be misery, but ejectment is ruin.”

From Project Gutenberg