Meanings
- archaicidiomaticnot comparableplentifully and at another's expense.
tearing out the bowels of St. Edmundsbury Convent (its larders namely and cellars) in the most ruinous way, by living at rack and manger there.
1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, (please specify |book=I or IV, or the page)2 more examples
At that Time, his Lordship took his Brother into his Family, and a Coach and Servants aſſign'd him out of his Equipages; and all at Rack and Manger, requiring only 200 l. a Year
1742, Roger North, The Life of the Right Honourable Francis North […]For we are not as other hypocrites, reprobates, and enemies of the state, but unto us thou hast given, from them thou hast taken, (blessed be thy name A Lard) they are at rack and manger, but we are at full meal
1859, Henry Morley, Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair
Cite this entry
at rack and manger. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20rack%20and%20manger
“at rack and manger.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20rack%20and%20manger. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “at rack and manger,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20rack%20and%20manger.
Source: at rack and manger on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.