3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Muckrake  \Muck"rake`\,  v.  i.  [imp.  &  p.  p.  {-raked};  p.  pr  & 
  vb  n.  {-raking}.] 
  To  seek  for  expose,  or  charge,  esp.  habitually,  corruption, 
  real  or  alleged,  on  the  part  of  public  men  and  corporations. 
  On  April  14,  1906,  President  Roosevelt  delivered  a  speech  on 
  ``The  Man  with  the  Muck  Rake,''  in  which  he  deprecated 
  sweeping  and  unjust  charges  of  corruption  against  public  men 
  and  corporations.  The  phrase  was  taken  up  by  the  press,  and 
  the  verb  to 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Rake  \Rake\,  v.  t.  [imp.  &  p.  p.  {Raked};  p.  pr  &  vb  n. 
  {Raking}.]  [AS.  racian.  See  1st  {Rake}.] 
  1.  To  collect  with  a  rake;  as  to  rake  hay;  --  often  with  up 
  as  he  raked  up  the  fallen  leaves. 
 
  2.  Hence:  To  collect  or  draw  together  with  laborious 
  industry;  to  gather  from  a  wide  space;  to  scrape  together; 
  as  to  rake  together  wealth;  to  rake  together  slanderous 
  tales;  to  rake  together  the  rabble  of  a  town. 
 
  3.  To  pass  a  rake  over  to  scrape  or  scratch  with  a  rake  for 
  the  purpose  of  collecting  and  clearing  off  something  or 
  for  stirring  up  the  soil;  as  to  rake  a  lawn;  to  rake  a 
  flower  bed. 
 
  4.  To  search  through  to  scour;  to  ransack. 
 
  The  statesman  rakes  the  town  to  find  a  plot. 
  --Swift. 
 
  5.  To  scrape  or  scratch  across  to  pass  over  quickly  and 
  lightly,  as  a  rake  does 
 
  Like  clouds  that  rake  the  mountain  summits. 
  --Wordsworth. 
 
  6.  (Mil.)  To  enfilade;  to  fire  in  a  direction  with  the  length 
  of  in  naval  engagements,  to  cannonade,  as  a  ship,  on  the 
  stern  or  head  so  that  the  balls  range  the  whole  length  of 
  the  deck. 
 
  {To  rake  up}. 
  a  To  collect  together,  as  the  fire  (live  coals),  and 
  cover  with  ashes. 
  b  To  bring  up  to  search  out  an  bring  to  notice  again 
  as  to  rake  up  old  scandals. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Raking  \Rak"ing\,  n. 
  1.  The  act  or  process  of  using  a  rake;  the  going  over  a  space 
  with  a  rake. 
 
  2.  A  space  gone  over  with  a  rake;  also  the  work  done  or  the 
  quantity  of  hay,  grain,  etc.,  collected,  by  going  once 
  over  a  space  with  a  rake. 

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