on leaving not a rack behind

[Ken Miner]

What don't you leave behind when you don't leave a rack behind?

The reason we *say* it is that it's in _The Tempest_.

I don't think there's a word with more meanings in the Oxford English
Dictionary than 'rack', but apparently it can be a track left by an animal.
But one doesn't follow these racks, one can only leave them behind.

Oddly, the OED doesn't cite Shakespeare on it, so I'm still wondering ...

Ken

[Nick Russell]

Well now, let's try:

Rack, as in 'a rack of clouds', driven before the wind

or

Rack, as in the lees or dregs of grape stems left behind when wine is
'racked' or drawn off.

I always assumed, hearing 'leave not a rack behind', that it was 'wrack', as
in seaweed, as in left behind by the tide.

Oh well.

Pongo T.

[Cyril Delancey]

Post by Ken Miner
What don't you leave behind when you don't leave a rack behind?
The reason we *say* it is that it's in _The Tempest_.
I don't think there's a word with more meanings in the Oxford English
Dictionary than 'rack',

I don't have immediate access to an Oxford English Dictionary, but
perhaps someone who does could count the number of meanings of the word
"get".

[Ken Miner]

Post by Cyril Delancey

Post by Ken Miner
What don't you leave behind when you don't leave a rack behind?
The reason we *say* it is that it's in _The Tempest_.
I don't think there's a word with more meanings in the Oxford English
Dictionary than 'rack',

I don't have immediate access to an Oxford English Dictionary, but
perhaps someone who does could count the number of meanings of the word
"get".

You're right, of course. 'Get' would have more. Someone once claimed that
every language has a small set of words like 'get' from which many
expressions are formed. In French it would be 'coup' for example.

Ken

[Ian Michaud, TWS]

Post by Ken Miner
You're right, of course. 'Get' would have more. Someone once claimed that
every language has a small set of words like 'get' from which many
expressions are formed. In French it would be 'coup' for example.
Ken

The French equivalent, perhaps, of the "Coo!" exclaimed by Plum's
English schooboys when startled?

The Mixer

[Calvin]

Post by Ken Miner
What don't you leave behind when you don't leave a rack behind?
The reason we *say* it is that it's in _The Tempest_.
I don't think there's a word with more meanings in the Oxford English
Dictionary than 'rack',

According to The Concise Oxford English Dictionary

rack - 13
set - 34
round - 22

Pip Pip!
Uncle Woggly

[jacquesq]

Not being English-speaking (and quite possible not having read "The
Tempest" in English), I admit I never wondered about the expression
"not to leave a rack behind" and never thought it might come from
Shakespeare : I assumed it to be your plain everyday gardener's tool,
and I thought it was the vivid image of, precisely, the gardener having
done his day's work and put back all his tools where they belong and
being generally satisfied with his accomplishment. Well, if not only
the many *cultural looking* allusions are to be perceived in Wodehouse,
but every single word or expression also hides a secret meaning, I
guess I may just as well go back to Mickey Mouse Magazine... I think I
once saw about a group that had embarked on the task of "deciphering"
ALL cultural allusions in Wodehouse's books and already had done so for
20 novels or so (joy-killer, of course, just like trying to explain WHY
something is funny, but may come in handy, especially for entirely
unseen allusions like this one) : does anyone here know about this ?
Jacques

[ej]

Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1970 edition) does not mention
"leaving not a rack behind."

My Webster's Collegiate gives a possibility mentioned in an earlier post.

rack, n. [ME, rake, rakke, fr. ON rak stripe.] A path or course, esp.
of storm clouds; also, a faint trace; a vestige.

I used to own a complete annotated Shakespeare but when I moved to smaller
quarters it had to go.

Charlotte Mulliner