wreck1 (rek)

[ one's fortunes. Hence grew the general wreck and ma acre. Shak ., 1 Hen. VI., i. 1. 135. Add is on , Cato, v. 1. The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds. 2. That which is in a state of wreck or ruin, or remains from the operation of any destroying agency: as, the building is a mere wreck; he is but the wreck of his former self. But still the brave old soul held on, making the most IMG:content-2599.png:[blocks in formation] his head from his bodie, and embalming the same with salt and spices. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 137. 21. To writhe; contort; distort. Then walks off melancholic, and stands wreathed , As he were pinned up to the arras, thus. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iii. 2. Impatient of the wound, He rolls and wreathes his shining body round. Gay, Rural Sports, i. 3. To form into a wreath; adjust as a wreath or circularly; cause to pa about something. the Ble ed. Theodore Parker, Historic Americans, vi. Naught remains the saddening tale to tell, Save home's last wrecks - the cellar and the well! O. W. Holmes, Island Ruin. 3. The partial or total destruction of a ve el at sea or in any navigable water, by any accident of navigation or by the force of the elements; shipwreck. Go, go, begone, to save your ship from wreck, Which cannot perish, having thee on board. wrecker age of any kind, or a person who commits depredation upon such wreckage. Specifically-(a) One who lures a ship to destruction on a dangerous coast by false lights or signals, or otherwise, for the purpose of plunder, or one who makes a busine of watching for and plundering wrecked ve els. Such wreckers formerly abounded in many parts of the world, sometimes including whole communities in favorable localities. Those mad days of the Buccaneers and their nominally more respectable descendants, the Wreckers , are gone. Amer . Jour . Psychol ., II. 522. (b) One who causes the wreck or ruin of anything; one who lays snares or uses artful or dishonest means to cause physical, financial, or moral wreckage: as, a train- wrecker (on a railroad); a bank - wrecker; the wrecker of another's character. 2. A person employed in recovering wrecked or disabled ve els, or cargo and other property from such ve els, on account of the owners, underwriters, or other persons legitimately concerned; also, a ve el employed in this service. wreck-fish (rek'fish), n. The stone-ba , cernier, cherna, or cherne, Poly prion cernium. See Poly prion, and cut under stone - ba .