A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still."
Hamlet, Act II. Sc. 2.
"The winds in the upper regions which move the clouds above (which we call the rack)."
Bacon, Naturall Historie.
Steevens, in reference to the last quotation, says, "I should explain the word rack somewhat differently, by calling it 'the last fleeting vestige of the highest clouds, scarce perceptible on account of their distance and tenuity.' What was anciently called 'the rack' is now termed by sailors the scud." It is sufficiently obvious from the above what is meant by the word; but I now come to put the question, What authority had Horne Tooke for deriving it from Recan? It is, in fact, nothing more than a guess, the less probable as the word represents only an indirect result—not the clouds themselves, but a peculiar effect produced upon the clouds by the action of the winds. In another passage (in which I recognise the hand of Shakspeare) the formation of the rack is employed as an illustration; and in this instance "reek" would hardly stand as a substitute for the verb used.
"I might perceive his eye in her eye lost,
His ear to drink her sweet tongue's utterance;
And chasing passion, like inconstant clouds,—
That, rackt upon the carriage of the winds,
Increase, and die,—in his disturbed cheeks."
Edward III., Act II. Sc. 1.