Real Dictionary

rake
countable noun: A rake is a garden tool consisting of a row of metal or wooden teeth attached to a long handle. You can use a rake to make the earth smooth and level before you put plants in, or to gather leaves together.
countable noun: If you call a man a rake, you mean that he is rather immoral, for example because he gambles, drinks, or has many sexual relationships.
verb: If branches or someone's finger nails rake your skin, they scrape across it.
verb: If someone rakes an area with gunfire or with light, they cover it thoroughly by moving the gun or the light across from one side of the area to another.
verb: If you rake a surface, you move a rake across it in order to make it smooth and level.
verb: If you rake leaves or ashes, you move them somewhere using a rake or a similar tool.
verb: If you rake through a pile of objects or rubbish, you search through it thoroughly with your hands.

rake in American English 1
any of various long-handled tools with teeth or prongs at one end, used for gathering loose grass, hay, leaves, etc., or for smoothing broken ground
intransitive verb: to use a rake
noun: an agricultural implement with teeth or tines for gathering cut grass, hay, or the like or for smoothing the surface of the ground
transitive verb: to gather, draw, or remove with a rake

rake in American English 2
a dissolute, debauched man; roué
noun: a dissolute or profligate person, esp. a man who is licentious; roué

rake in American English 3
a slanting or inclination
to be slightly inclined; slant, as a ship's masts, etc.
to cause to slant or incline
intransitive verb: to incline from the vertical, as a mast, or from the horizontal
noun: inclination or slope away from the perpendicular or the horizontal
transitive verb: to cause (something) to incline from the vertical or the horizontal

rake in American English 4
intransitive verb: to fly after game

rake in British English 1
noun: a hand implement consisting of a row of teeth set in a headpiece attached to a long shaft and used for gathering hay, straw, leaves, etc, or for smoothing loose earth
verb: to scrape, gather, or remove (leaves, refuse, etc) with or as if with a rake

rake in British English 2
noun: a dissolute man, esp one in fashionable society; roué

rake in British English 3
to incline from the vertical by a perceptible degree, esp (of a ship's mast or funnel) towards the stern
noun: the degree to which an object, such as a ship's mast, inclines from the perpendicular, esp towards the stern

rake in British English 4
(of gun dogs or hounds) to hunt with the nose to the ground

rake in Chemical Engineering
noun: A rake is a device used in thickeners and settlers to move the settled solids toward the place where they leave the vessel.