Also 5–6 wrek-. [f. WRECK sb.1 Cf. med.L. wrecare (12th cent.).]
In various senses common only in passive use.
† 1. trans. To cast on shore. Obs.
c. 1420. Sir Amadas (W.), 475. Folke fordryvon in the schores,… Brone stedes,… All maner of ryches,… Wrekkyd with the water lay. [= xliv. (Camden), He fond wrekun a-mung the stones Knyȝtes in meneuere.]
a. 1440. Sir Eglam., 894. He say that lady whyte as flowre, Was wrekyd on the sonde.
a. 1509. in Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., Var. Coll. (1907), IV. 87. [Seizing them] as goodes wrekked, which neither can ne may soo bee taken as long as the veray owners thereof be certainly knowen.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. iv. 5. A Coffer strong,… seeming to haue suffred mickle wrong by being wreckt vppon the sands.
1729. Jacob, Law Dict., s.v., If Goods wreck’d are seised by Persons having no Authority.
1821. Act 1–2 Geo. IV., c. 75 § 26. That Part of the Coast where the same [goods] shall have been stranded, wrecked or found.
2. To cause the wreck of (a vessel); to wreck (a ship); = SHIPWRECK v. 1 b. Chiefly passive. Also fig. and in fig. context.
1570. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1576), 228. A shippe laden with the Kings owne goods was wrecked within the precinct of this libertie.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 7. The ribs of vessels broke, And shiuered ships, which had bene wrecked late.
1732. Gentl. Mag., 976. A great Number of Ships were wrecked … by stormy Weather.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VI. 395. Brought into the European seas, in some India ship that might be wrecked upon her return.
1845. J. C. Mangan, German Anthol., II. 100. The shallop of my peace is wrecked on Beauty’s shore.
1846. Mrs. A. Marsh, Father Darcy, II. ii. 60. So bravely as we have struggled against the overwhelming waters! The vessel is finally wrecked!
1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars & Burtons, lxxvii. If the Wainoora has sailed,… she is wrecked somewhere on the coast.
refl. 1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 716. This frail bark of ours, when sorely tried, May wreck itself without the pilot’s guilt.
b. To make or cause (a person) to suffer or undergo shipwreck; to involve in wreck; also, to cause the loss of (goods or cargo) by shipwreck; = SHIPWRECK v. 1. Chiefly passive.
1617. Moryson, Itin., II. 8. The … Spaniards, last yeere wrecked on the Coasts of Connaght…, had left … great store of treasure.
1796. Charlotte Smith, Narr. Loss Transports, 14. A young Gentleman,… wrecked himself, and wandering along the unhospitable shore.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xx. We were wrecked in our boat last night.
1877. Tennyson, Harold, II. i. Thy villains with their lying lights have wreck’d us!
1903. S. E. White, Forest, vii. 79–80. A big roller rips along your gunwale [of a canoe]. You are wrecked.
fig. 1821. Shelley, Epipsych., 148. The rocks on which high hearts are wrecked.
1845. Bailey, Festus (ed. 2), 323. Bound to earth, Wrecked in the deeps of Heaven, in Death’s expiring birth!
1880. W. H. D. Adams, Wrecked Lives, Ser. I. p. vi. If he would not wreck his life amid the rocks and quicksands of worldly lusts.
absol. 1881. H. D. Rawnsley, Sonn. Eng. Lakes, 115. So may it be when storms my life shall strand On treacherous shoal,… May … waves that wrecked reach out a pitying hand To gulf my sorrow.
c. transf. (See quot.)
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 144. There be some quicksands, wherein footemen are in danger to be wrecked.
3. To cause or bring about the ruin or destruction of (a structure, etc.) as by violence or misuse; to reduce to a ruinous condition in this way; to shatter, ruin, destroy.
1510. in Leadam, Star Chamber Cases (Selden), II. 70. [He] maketh Fysch garthes & weeres … by reason wherof the seid porte is so wrekked & shallowed, that [etc.].
1594. Spenser, Amoretti, lvi. That tree … am I, whom ye do wreck, do ruine, and destroy.
1821. Shelley, Epipsych., 370. Thou too, O Comet…, Who drew the heart of this frail Universe Towards thine own; till, wrecked in that convulsion,… Thine went astray.
1865. Pall Mall Gaz., 14 July, 9/2. The mob … commenced ‘wrecking’ Conservative houses, stoning one sick old gentleman as he lay in his bed.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 34. The everyway external stream … leaves it [sc. a rush] … wrecked at last.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 123. The joint is found to be completely wrecked.
transf. 1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, xli. How now? My Duke’s crown wrecked?
b. To cause or bring about the subversion or overthrow of (some condition or order of things); to shatter, ruin.
1749. Smollett, Regicide, I. vi. O recal Those flatt’ring arts thy own deceit employ’d To wreck my peace!
1791. Burns, Fair Eliza, ii. Can’st thou wreck his peace for ever?
1826. in Sheridaniana, 334. Their want of tact and judgment has wrecked the party.
1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., VII. iv. Do not wreck, upon trifles, a noble interest we have in common.
1883. Sir C. S. C. Bowen, in Law Times Rep., XLIX. 251/2. We hear of abuse of different kinds of process … which amounts to wrecking credit.
1884. St. James’s Gaz., 11 Jan., 6/1. His Administration was very nearly wrecked at the outset.
c. To frustrate or thwart; to prevent the passing of (a measure, etc.).
1855. Motley, Dutch Rep., V. v. Every fresh attempt at an amicable compromise was wrecked upon the obstinate bigotry of the leading civic authorities.
1901. Scotsman, 28 Feb., 7/2. The measure will, it is pretty certain, be wrecked before it gets out of committee.
4. To bring (a person) to ruin or disaster; to subvert, ruin. Also refl.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. ix. All his mind is set on mucky pelfe, To hoord vp heapes of evill gotten masse, For which he others wrongs, and wreckes himselfe.
1594. [see 3].
1644. Raleigh’s Remains, 48. If he resolve … to wreck him, and to have his life.
1732. Pope, Ess. Man, I. 254. Let ruling Angels from their spheres be hurl’d, Being on Being wreck’d, and world on world.
1782. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Ode R.A.’s, iii. Wks. 1812, I. 20. Despising Pride, whose wish it is to wreck ’em.
b. To shatter (a person’s health, constitution or nerves) by sickness, hardship, or the like; to destroy the quality or tone of. Usu. in passive.
1850. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. (1857), 125. The drunkard … discovers that he is unexpectedly degraded, his health wrecked.
1897. Kipling, Captains Courageous, 213. I wonder your nervous system isn’t completely wrecked.
5. intr. a. To suffer or undergo shipwreck; = SHIPWRECK v. 2. Also fig. and in fig. context.
1671. Milton, P. R., II. 228. Honour, glory, and popular praise; Rocks whereon greatest men have oftest wreck’d. Ibid. (1671), Samson, 1044. What Pilot so expert but needs must wreck Embarqu’d with such a Stears-mate at the Helm?
1729. Berkeley, Lett., Wks. 1871, IV. 161. My letters were in one of the vessels that wreck’d.
1860. Mrs. C. Clive, Why Paul Ferroll, iv. With all her early impressions wrecking around her, she did not know to what to cling.
1864. Lowell, Fireside Trav., 172. The montagna bruna on which Ulysses wrecked.
1884. Tennyson, Becket, II. ii. Holy Church May rock, but will not wreck, nor our Archbishop Stagger on the slope decks for any rough sea.
b. To break down in health.
1876. R. Bridges, Growth of Love, xiv. What is this wreck of all he hath in fief, When he that hath is wrecking?
6. a. To cause damage by washing up.
1634. Rotherham (Yorks.) Feoffees Accounts (MS.). P[ai]d to Tho. Sandall … for paveing at the bridge where the water had wreckt up.
b. To silt up, as with tide-driven sand, etc.
1786. in Trans. Soc. Arts (1789), VII. 56. By a gradual, continual loss of out-fall amongst the sands, and by the sluice on the marsh and other parts wrecking up.
7. To seize or collect wreck or wreckage; to search for wreck. Also transf.
1843. Times, 28 March, 7/1. The news of the wreck spread rapidly…, and in the evening a large mob assembled with a view of ‘wrecking.’
1897. Westm. Gaz., 2 Oct., 3/1. [Your job,] perhaps, is to go ‘wrecking’ for firewood. Down upon the rocks the friendly tide casts many a spar and log.
