Definition of "wreck"

To the fair haven of my native home, / The vvreck of vvhat I was, fatigued I come, […]

1782, William Cowper, “Retirement”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 277

Hard and obstinate / As is a rock amidst the raging floods, / 'Gainst which a ship, of succour desolate, / Doth suffer wreck, both of herself and goods.

1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., Edmund Spenser], “(please specify the sonnet number or title)”, in Amoretti and Epithalamion. […], London: […] [Peter Short] for William Ponsonby; reprinted in Amoretti and Epithalamion (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas […], 1927,

the wrecks of matter and the crush of worlds

1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, Act I, scene v, page 1

Its intellectual life was thus able to go on amidst the wreck of its political life.

1883, John Richard Green, The Conquest of England

2... Wreck includes the cargo, stores and tackle of a vessel and all parts of a vessel separated from the vessel, and the property of persons who belong to, are on board or have quitted a vessel that is wrecked, stranded or in distress at any place in Canada.

1985, “Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)”, in Justice Canada‎, retrieved 9 September 2021

[I]n 1952 more than 7,000 were involved in such a "wreck" in Britain and Ireland.

1988, Michael Cady, Rob Hume, editors, The Complete Book of British Birds, page 89

Weak and envy'd, if they should conspire, / They wreck themselves, and he hath his Desire.

1595, Samuel Daniel, “(please specify the folio number)”, in The First Fowre Bookes of the Ciuile Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke, London: […] P[eter] Short for Simon Waterson

[…] Mrs. Marleen Ketchum was not quite certain if the train wrecked or if the volcano blew its top. It took a moment before she was certain it had to be the passenger train.

2020, Marti Talbott, McShane's Bride, page 112