Definition of "wreck"

wreck

/ˈɹɛk/

noun
plural wrecks
1. Something or someone that has been ruined.
2. The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down.
  Quotations
  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
3. An event in which something is damaged through collision.
  Quotations
  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
  1. (specifically, nautical) A shipwreck: an event in which a ship is heavily damaged or destroyed.
4. (law, not countable) Goods, etc. cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck.
  Quotations
  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
5. (ornithology) A large number of birds that have been brought to the ground, injured or dead, by extremely adverse weather.
  Quotations
  [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
verb
third-person singular simple present wrecks, present participle wrecking, simple past and past participle wrecked
1. (transitive) To destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.
2. (transitive) To ruin or dilapidate.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To plunder goods from wrecked ships.
4. (transitive, Australia) To dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts.
5. (transitive) To involve in a wreck; hence, to cause to suffer ruin; to balk of success, and bring disaster on.
  Quotations
  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
6. (intransitive) To be involved in a wreck; to be damaged or destroyed.
  Quotations
  […] 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

Definition of "wreck"

wreck

noun

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verb

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