Forms: [1–3 wrec (1 werec, waerece, warec), 2 wrech, 3–4 wrek, 3 wreck-, 4 wreck,] 3, 5–6 wrek, 5–7 wrekke, wrecke, 6– wreck. [a. AF. wrec, wrech, wrek (also werec, waerec, warec, whence F. varech, varec VAREC), a. ON. *wrec, *wrek (Norw. and Icel. rek n.), f. the stem of wrekan to drive: see WREAK v., and cf. WRACK sb.2 The AF. word is also the source of med.L. wreccum, warectum. The ON. variant *wreke (Icel. reki) is represented in English by the obsolete WREKE. Another French form appears in VRAIC.]
I. 1. Law. That which is cast ashore by the sea in tidal waters; esp. goods or cargo as thrown on land by the sea from a wrecked, stranded or foundered vessel. Occas. wreck of the sea (med.L. wreccum maris, AF. wrec or wreck de mer), † wreck of the king (med.L. wrech regis). Cf. SHIPWRECK sb. 1, SHIPBRECHE.
[1077. Wm. I., in Chron. Abb. Ramsey (Rolls), 201. Bramcestre … cum omni maris ejectu quod nos wrec [v.r. waerec] nominamus.
1175–6. Pipe Roll Hen. II. (1904), 83. Quia accepit wrech regis.
1200. K. John, Charter to Dunwich, in Rotuli Chart. (1837), 51/2. De ewagio de wrec et lagan et de omnibus aliis consuetudinibus.
a. 1268. Bracton, De Leg., I. xii. (Rolls), I. 60. Item ubi non apparet dominus rei, sicut est de wrecco maris.
1292. Britton, I. 216. Þar fraunchises de aver wrek de mer trové en soen soil.
1343. in Rymer’s Fœdera (Rolls), II. II. 1225. Wreccum maris … tam de piscibus regalibus, quam de aliis rebus quibuscumque, ad terram ibidem projectis.
1600: see JETSAM 1.]
1228. in Mem. Ripon (Surtees), I. 52. Wrek, weyf, stray, merchet, lecherwyt, blodewyt. Ibid., 57. Wrek et weyf, stray.
1455. Rolls of Parlt., V. 311/2. Wrecke of the Sea, Weyves, Estrayes.
1477. Paston Lett., III. 211. Mastras Clere hath sen down hyr men, and with set alle the stuff and wrekke.
1482. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 205/1. The same Duc shall have … Wrekke of the See, Tresour founde.
1570. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1576), 229. If a ship were cast on shoare … and were not repaired by suche as escaped on liue within a certaine time,… this was taken for Wreck. Ibid. If from thencefoorth any one thing (being within the vessell) arriued on liue, then the ship and goods should not be seised for wrecke.
1630. Aldeburgh Rec., in N. & Q., May (1921), 427/2. Burying a man that came ashore when the Kings wreck came ashore.
1651. trans. Kitchin’s Courts Leet (1657), 24. The Kings Prerogative, chap. 11. the King shall have Wreck of the Sea throughout the whole Realm.
1666. N. Riding Rec., VI. 101. A warrant against 11 Britton men for riotously taking a whale and other wrecke.
1728. Chambers, Cycl. (1738), s.v., Wreck, antiently, not only comprehended goods … from a perishing ship, but whatever else the sea cast upon land; whether it were precious stones, fishes,… or the like.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. 283. If any persons … take any goods so cast on shore, which are not legal wreck. Ibid. (1768), III. 106. The court of the admiral [had] … no manner of cognizance … or any wreck of the sea: for that must be cast on land before it becomes a wreck.
1800. Addison, Amer. Law Rep., 63. Wreck, in its legal signification, is confined to such goods as, after shipwreck at sea, are by the sea cast upon the land.
1821. Act 1–2 Geo. IV., c. 75 § 26. That no … person who may be entitled … to Wreck of the Sea … shall be entitled to appropriate such Wreck or Goods … until he [etc.].
1866. Daily Tel., 3 Nov., 5/2. The more scrupulous deliver up their spoil to the receiver of wreck.
1888. J. Williams, in Encycl. Brit., XXIV. 687/1. As wreck in the last resort became crown property, it was never subject to forfeiture. Ibid. Wreck was frequently granted to subjects as a franchise.
2. = WRACK sb.2 3, SEA-WRACK 2 a, VAREC 1. Latterly Sc. and north. dial.
Cf. tangle-wreck TANGLE sb.1 3, sea-wreck s.v. SEA-WRACK.
1499. Promp. Parv. (Pynson), s v b. Wrek of the see, alga, norga.
1500. Ortus Vocab., B iij. Alga,… herba marina, i.e. illud quod mare projicit, wrekke or frothe of the see.
1634–5. Brereton, Trav. (Chetham Soc.), 97. The grass, weeds and wreck, brought by the sea … and left upon the sands.
1728. Chambers, Cycl. (1738), s.v., Wreck … in some places … is used to manure the ground.
1752. in Scots Mag. (1753), July, 335/2. He was then employed in gathering wreck.
1791. Statist. Acc. Scotl., I. 113. The shores [of Ayrshire] abound with … rich sea-weed or wreck for manure.
1806. Forsyth, Beauties Scotl., III. 351. Sea-ware … driven upon the shore by the tides … is commonly called blown wreck.
1876. in Cleveland Gloss., Suppl.
1894. K. Hewat, Little Scottish World, vii. 113. Annually they [the ‘Wreck Brethren’] raised funds for their purposes, and regulated the carting of the wreck.
b. = WRACK sb.2 3 b. Now dial.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 533/2. Wrek, of a dyke, or a fenne, or stondynge watyr, ulva.
1742. N. Riding Rec., VIII. 242. The Treasurer to pay £1 for clearing away the wreck from How and Kirby Misperton Bridges.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scald Hunt., II. 298. Our faces were concealed by the ‘wreck’ that covered the stones.
1877–86. in Lincoln and Chesh. glossaries.
1884. G. S. Streatfield, Lincoln. & Danes, 376. Wreck, weeds and other rubbish floating down streams or on ditch water.
c. Sc. and dial. = WRACK sb.2 3 c.
1743. R. Maxwell, Sel. Trans. Soc. Improv. Agric. Scot., 11. Cause pull up and gather carefully the Wreck, or Roots of Weeds and Grass, into Heaps.
1787. W. H. Marshall, Norfolk, II. 392. Wreck, dead undigested roots and stems of grasses and weeds in plowland.
1801. Farmer’s Mag., Jan. 60. A field … where dung was applied amid mountains of wreck, or couch grass.
3. A vessel broken, ruined or totally disabled by being driven on rocks, cast ashore or stranded; a wrecked or helpless ship; the ruins or hulk of such. Occas. also wreck of a ship.
[c. 1290. Fleta, I. xliv. (1647), 61. Item dicitur wreckum navis vel batellus fractus, de quibus nihil vivum evaserit.]
a. 1500[?]. Chaucer’s Man of Law’s T., 415. Wks. (1532), 24 b. The constable of the castel downe is fare To seen this wrecke, & al the shyp he sought.
1611. Cotgr., Vuaresque, a wrecke, or ship cast away.
1652. Heylin, Cosmogr., I. 67. Charybdis is a Gulf … which violently attracting all Vessells that come too nigh it, devoureth them, and casteth up their wrecks.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 80. He shall restore whatever Wrecks may happen on his Coasts.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 189. I could plainly see … the Wreck of a Ship cast away in the Night.
1743. Bulkeley & Cummins, Voy. S. Seas, 14. The Ship is a perfect Wreck.
1762. Falconer, Shipwr., III. 669. Three … from the wreck on oars and rafts descend.
1805. J. Turnbull, Voy. World (1813), 391. The ship … struck upon a reef of rocks…, and shortly became a total wreck.
1812. J. Wilson, Isle of Palms, I. 32. Fast the miserable Ship Becomes a lifeless wreck.
1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars & Burtons, lxxix. The wreck of a little coasting craft still lay about two hundred yards to sea.
fig. and in fig. context. 1781. Cowper, Retirem., 386. To the fair haven of my native home, The wreck of what I was, fatigu’d, I come.
1796. Burke, Corr. (1844), IV. 350. Such is the person you come to see, or rather the wreck of what was never a first-rate vessel.
1883. S. C. Hall, Retrospect, I. 322. All of manhood in him … had given way and left him a stranded wreck.
1885. Tennyson, The Wreck, 5. My life itself is a wreck,… I am flung from the rushing tide of the world as a waif of shame.
b. An unserviceable or crazy old vessel.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 5 Dec., 5/1. There are too many of these old wrecks [= barges] on the river.
4. a. Law. A piece or article of wreckage; a fragment of a wrecked vessel or its cargo. Freq. pl.
1570. in Boys, Sandwich (1792), 775. Wrecks and fyndalls floating, and the half of all wrecks and fyndalls jottsome.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., II. 489/2. [Richard I.] pardoned al wreckes by sea…, releasing for euer al his right to the same.
1579. [Rastell], Termes Lawes, 187 b. The Lorde shall haue that as a wreck of ye sea.
1652. Needham, Selden’s Mare Cl., I. xxv. (1663), 167. The Question is, whether the Goods bee … called Spoils or Wrecks.
1729. Jacob, Law Dict., s.v. Lagan, [If] these Goods … are cast away upon the Land, they are then a Wreck. Ibid., s.v., It was usual to seise and forfeit Wrecks to the King, only when no Owner could be found.
1768. [see 1].
b. Without article. = WRECKAGE 2.
1744. Gentl. Mag., 616/2. Several chests, broken masts, and other pieces of wreck floating in the sea.
1796. Charlotte Smith, Narr. Loss Transports, 34. The Chissel-bank … was strewn … with pieces of wreck, and piles of plundered goods.
1815. Ann. Reg., Chron., 42. Six men reached the shore … upon planks, being much bruised by the surf and wreck.
1833. Redding, Shipwrecks, I. 194. All the crew believed the ship was crushed to pieces, but no wreck floated up.
1865. Swinburne, Felise, 80. [Such things] As the sea feeds on, wreck and stray and castaway.
5. A drifted or tossed-up mass; a large heap; a great quantity; an abundance. Now north. dial.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., II. 34. Where Chesill lifts Her ridged snake-like sands, in wrecks and smouldring drifts.
1683. G. M[eriton], Yorks. Dial., 15. There’s sike a wreck, it [sc. corn] liggs all down o’th Land.
1846. Brockett, N. C. Words (ed. 3), Wreck, a great quantity … as a confused heap.
1876. Whitby Gloss., 224/1. I saw wrecks on ’t.
6. That which remains of something that has suffered ruin, demolishment, waste, etc.; the dilapidated, disorganized or disordered residue or remainder of anything. Also (a) with a and pl.
(a) 1713. Addison, Cato, V. i. But thou shalt flourish … Unhurt amidst … The Wrecks of Matter, and the Crush of Worlds.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Cl.), 250. His freinds … got him, out of the wrecks of his estate, betwixt L.30 or L.40 per annum.
1780. Westm. Mag., 371. He continued obstinate and mad, going … over the wrecks of the house.
1821. Shelley, Epipsych., 493. An envy of the isles, a pleasure-house…, It scarce seems now a wreck of human art.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., II. lv. 335. The Republican party was formed … out of the wrecks of the Whig party.
(b) 1743. R. Blair, Grave, 30. Names once famed, now dubious or forgot, And buried ’midst the wreck of things which were.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pic., ix. From the wreck of the hammock [she] made an occasional bed for herself on the floor.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxviii. Assisted with suggestions which they had since executed with the wreck of their fortunes.
1804. W. L. Bowles, Spir. Discov., III. 46. My destined voyage, by the shores Of Asia, and the wreck of cities old.
1840. Arnold, Hist. Rome, II. xxxi. 255. There he was joined by the wreck of the consul’s army.
1854. R. S. Surtees, Handley Cr., lxxvi. As Mamma surveyed the wreck of luncheon.
transf. and fig. 1791. Burns, Song of Death, iii. Thou strik’st the dull peasant—he sinks in the dark, Nor saves e’en the wreck of a name.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, V. 109. He sheds A passing tear perchance upon the wreck Of earthly peace.
b. The broken-down, debilitated or emaciated form of a person. (Cf. 7 b.)
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., I. 225. It was, indeed, the wreck of her once noble lad.
1836. Lytton, Duchess de La Vallière, V. iii. These wrecks of man Worn to decay.
1893. Selous, Trav. S. E. Africa, 62. All the Portuguese here were mere wrecks of men—frail, yellow, and fever-stricken.
7. That which is in a state of ruin; anything that is broken down or has undergone wrecking, shattering or dilapidation.
1814. Southey, Roderick, XVI. 62. Amid heaps Of mountain wreck, on either side thrown high,… The tortuous channel wound.
1816. Scott, Antiq., iii. This wreck of ancient books and utensils.
1842. Macaulay, Horatius, lv. Like a dam, the mighty wreck [sc. of a bridge] Lay right athwart the stream.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xx. Alas! a crack, a flap, a rattle,… and all forward was a mass of dangling wreck.
1889. Mrs. E. Kennard, Landing a Prize, i. (1891), 4. What was left of the wreck had to be given up to creditors.
fig. 1849. Robertson, Serm., Ser. I. viii. (1866), 145. The life-hopes have become a wreck.
b. A person of undermined, shattered or ruined constitution; one who is debilitated by ill-health, hardship, etc. (Cf. 6 b.)
1795–6. Wordsw., Borderers, I. 336. Osw. But how fare you? Her. Well as the wreck I am permits.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, I. xxxi. ‘Yes,’ continued the venerable wreck, after a short pause.
1857. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett. (1883), II. 335. It is easy to see you have suffered! an entire wreck, like myself.
1899. E. W. Hornung, Dead Men, xii. I was slowly dying of insomnia. I was a nervous wreck.
1901. W. R. H. Trowbridge, Lett. of her Mother to Eliz., xxxi. 154. I think I am in for influenza. I feel a perfect wreck.
8. [By misapprehension.] = WRACK sb.1 5 b.
1787–9. Wordsw., Evening Walk, 306. No wreck of all the pageantry remains.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, IX. 130. These ruins soon left not a wreck behind.
1835. I. Taylor, Spir. Despot., v. 185. Other systems have … been swept away, leaving hardly a wreck behind.
II. 9. The disabling or destruction of a vessel by any disaster or accident of navigation; loss of a ship by striking on a rock, stranding or foundering; an instance of this; = SHIPWRECK sb. 2. To make wreck: cf. MAKE v.1 64.
1463–4. Rolls of Parlt., V. 507/1. Yf eny of the forseid Wares or Chaffares … come into this Reame or Wales by wey of wrek.
1477. Paston Lett., III. 211. There is a grete chyppe go to wrekke be for Wynterton.
1568. Grafton, Chron., I. 4. This Arke … by diuine prouidence … was gouerned from running to wreck.
1577. Holinshed, Chron., II. 490/1. That euery person makyng wrecke by sea, and comming aliue to lande, shoulde haue all his goodes free.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 6. Learning his ship from those white rocks to saue,… Threatning vnheedie wrecke and rash decay.
1607. Cowell, Interpr., s.v. Flotsen, Jetson is a thing cast out of the shippe being in danger of wrecke.
1672. Dryden, 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada, III. 107. As Seamen, parting in a gen’ral wreck, When first the loosening planks begin to crack, Each catches one.
1749. Gentl. Mag., 396/1. The ill behaviour of his crew, and the bad condition of the ship occasioned its wreck.
1795. Burns, O Mally’s meek, iii. Her two eyes … Would keep a sinking ship frae wreck.
1809. R. Warner, Tour Cornwall, 158. A range of rocks, the terrible scene of many a disastrous wreck.
1845. C. Wilkes, Narr. U.S. Explor. Exped., II. 91. In leaving the harbour we had a narrow escape from wreck.
1888. F. Hume, Mme. Midas, I. Prol. We are … shipwrecked sailors; and I will tell the story of the wreck.
fig. and in fig. context. 1564. Bullein, Dial. agst. Pest (1888), 93. The ship of fooles … wanteth a good Pilot, the storme, the rocke, and the wrecke at hand.
1770. Cowper, Lett., 25 Sept. The storm of sixty-three made a wreck of the friendships I had contracted.
b. Stock Exchange. (See first quot.)
1876. ‘E. Pinto’ (Latham Smith), Ye Outside Fools! (1877), 355. A Corner, Pool, Clique, Ring are all terms equivalent to a Rig or Wreck. Ibid., 401. They seldom can resist the seductive interest of Rigs and Wrecks.
10. The action of subverting or overthrowing an established order of things, etc.; the fact of being brought to disaster; downfall, overthrow, ruin.
1577. Hanmer, Anc. Eccl. Hist., 494. He came into Mesopotamia, not without plaine daunger and wrecke to the state.
1594. Spenser, Amoretti, xxv. Then all the woes and wrecks which I abide, as meanes of blissé I gladly wil embrace.
1608. Great Frost, ad fin. Being … thus round beset with the horrors of so present a wreck, he fell down on his knees.
1763. J. Brown, Poetry & Music, v. 78. The most celebrated bards of ancient Greece, whose songs have perished in the wreck of time.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, III. iii. Proud of calamity, we will enjoy the wreck of wealth.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Is., Introd. (1846), I. 23. The wreck of their ancient liberties.
1839. Talfourd, Glencoe, I. i. You come To share the wreck of the Macdonalds.
1885. J. Payn, Talk of Town, I. 182. It was not that she feared to risk the wreck of her own happiness.
fig. 1793. Burns, ‘Where are the joys,’ iv. A’ that has caused this wreck in my bosom, Is Jenny.
b. The action of wrecking or breaking apart; the fact of being materially wrecked or ruined; destruction or demolition.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 166, ¶ 2. Books, which … may last as long as the Sun and Moon, and perish only in the general Wreck of Nature.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), I. 25. The manner in which he relieves the earth from this universal wreck.
1839. Murchison, Silur. Syst., I. xxix. 376. In accounting for these extraordinary accumulations of broken coal we may undoubtedly refer their origin to the wreck of the regular seams.
1864. Lowell, Fireside Trav., 31. Dealing thunderous wreck to the two hostile vessels.
1886. J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 73. Wreck, a break-down, as in a shaft or on an incline.
c. In the phr. to go to wreck (and ruin).
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 542. Our fained shields and wepons then they found, And … our discording voice they knew. We went to wreck, with nomber ouerlayd.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Mark v. 11–17. The flocke goeth to wrecke and vtterly perisheth.
1600. Holland, Livy, 676. All things els about him went to wreck.
1721. De Foe, Mem. Cavalier (1840), 65. I saw our men go to wreck.
1789. Burns, Elegy on Year 1788, 4. A Towmont, sirs, is gane to wreck!
1834[?]. De Quincey, Autob. Sk., Wks. 1858, I. 126. To wreck goes every notion or feeling that divides … the brave man from the brave.
1877. Black, Green Past., i. The whole estate is going to wreck and ruin.
1883. Stevenson, Treas. Isl., xxviii. Here you are in a bad way: ship lost,… your whole business gone to wreck.
ellipt. 1782. Burns, ‘No Churchman am I,’ v. A letter inform’d me that all was to wreck.
III. 11. attrib. and Comb., as wreck buoy, case, chart, flag; objective and instrumental, as wreck-finder, raiser, -seeker; † wreck-fishing, -raising, -threatening; also wreck-devoted, -strewn.
1874. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket-bk., v. 109. *Wreck buoys are painted green.
1892. Marsden, Sel. Pleas, p. xliv. In 1377 a *wreck case was tried before justices.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., No. 2747. Large *wreck chart of the British Isles for 1861.
1819. Shelley, Cenci, V. iv. 42. A *wreck-devoted seaman thus might pray To the deaf sea.
1902. Daily Chron., 29 Oct., 7/1 (citing N. Y. Tribune). The wreck of a coal barge was first located…. Two boats, termed *‘wreck-finders,’ then … by means of derricks or suction pumps raise the coal to the surface.
1674. Temple, Lett., Wks. 1720, II. 310. This Invention of *Wreck-fishing [by Sir Edmund Curtis], for the Recovery of His Majesty’s Tin, cast away before Ostend.
1897. Daily News, 15 Sept., 8/4. The Thames Conservancy have hoisted their green *‘wreck flag,’ warning all craft to steer clear of the debris.
1881. Instr. Census Clerks (1885), 36. Wharfinger, Wharf Agent,… *Wreck Raiser.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 14 July, 5/2. The *wreck-raising vessels that are to make an attempt to save some of Admiral Cervera’s unfortunate squadron.
1843. Capt. Marryat, M. Violet, xxviii. The unconscientious *wreck-seeker of a captain.
1821. Shelley, The Fugitives, 21. The Earth is like Ocean, *Wreck-strewn and in motion.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, IV. 620. Inaccessible *Wreck-threatening Staten Land’s o’erhanging shore.
b. Attrib. in names of persons having, or appointed to take, charge of wreck or wreckage, as wreck commissioner, -master.
1846. Worcester (citing Lee), Wreck-Master, a master of a wreck.
a. 1868. in Grant, Rep. Wrecking Bahamas, 77. The first-licensed wreck-master boarding a vessel wrecked, stranded, or in distress … shall … become the master of all wreckers employed on such vessel, and shall be styled the ‘wreck-master.’
1876. Act 39–40 Vict., c. 80 § 29. It shall be the duty of a wreck commissioner … to hold any formal investigation into a loss.
1891. Cent. Dict., s.v., Receivers of wrecks (in Great Britain), wreck-masters (in New York and Texas), officers whose duty [etc.].
1898. Engineering Mag., XVI. 70. Instructions for the handling of explosives … should be placed in the hands of the railroad staff, including wreckmasters.
c. Special Combs., as wreck-fish, the stone-bass; † wreck-goods Sc., goods cast ashore from a wreck; † wreck-make, poet. that which causes wrecks; wreck-ware Sc., -weed, = sense 2; wreck-wood, wood washed up or ashore from a wreck; also attrib.; wreck-works, salvage-works for raising a wreck or wrecks.
1880. Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., I. 18. This fish … is called in Devonshire, *Wreck fish, because it follows floating timbers.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 270. Special Line, furnished with all accessories, used in fishing for Stone Bass or Wreck-fish.
1693. Stair, Instit. (ed. 2), Alph. Index K 2. *Wreck-goods … become Escheat as Publick.
1765–8. Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., II. i. § 13. Wreck-goods … were not claimed as escheat, but secured for the owners.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 88. And Caulons castels we doe spy, with Scylla the *wreckmake.
1865. Way, Promp. Parv., 533, note. On the coasts of Scotland sea-weed is called *‘wreck-ware.’
1821. Scott, Pirate, x. One whom the sea flung forth as *wreck-weed. Ibid., v. The *wreck-wood that the callants brought in yesterday.
1843. Times, 25 July, 3/2. The mast is still standing, and very little wreck-wood has driven from her.
1895. ’Q’ [Quiller-Couch], Wandering Heath, 5. The rain drove … aslant like threads of gold silk in the shine of the wreckwood fire.
1903. E. Childers, Riddle of Sands, xx. 211. The *wreck-works were evidently what they purported to be.
