different between racket vs bedlam

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??æk?t/
• Rhymes: -æk?t

Etymology 1

From Middle English raket. Possibly cognate with Middle French rachette, requette (“palm of the hand”). Possibly from Arabic ??????? ???????? (r??at al-yad, “palm of the hand”), although this is doubtful. Instead, the term is more likely to be derived from Dutch raketsen, from Middle French rachasser (“to strike (the ball) back”).

Noun

racket (plural rackets)

2. (countable, sports) An implement with a handle connected to a round frame strung with wire, sinew, or plastic cords, and used to hit a ball, such as in tennis or a birdie in badminton.

   Synonyms: bat, paddle, racquet
3. (Canada) A snowshoe formed of cords stretched across a long and narrow frame of light wood.
4. A broad wooden shoe or patten for a man or horse, to allow walking on marshy or soft ground.

Alternative forms

• (sporting implement): racquet

Translations

Verb

racket (third-person singular simple present rackets, present participle racketing, simple past and past participle racketed)

1. To strike with, or as if with, a racket.
   • 1658, John Hewytt, Nine Select Sermons

     Poor man [is] racketed from one temptation to another.

Further reading

• racket (sports equipment) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• list of racket sports on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

Attested since the 1500s, of unclear origin; possibly a metathesis of the dialectal term rattick (“rattle”).

Noun

racket (plural rackets)

1. A loud noise.

   Synonyms: din, noise, ruckus

2. A fraud or swindle; an illegal scheme for profit.
   • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift [Avon ed., 1976, p. 408]:

     In six decades he had spotted all the rackets, smelled all the rats, and he was tired of being the absolute and sick master and boss of the inner self.

   Synonyms: con, fraud, scam, swindle; see also Thesaurus:deception

3. (dated, slang) A carouse; any reckless dissipation.
4. (dated, slang) Something taking place considered as exciting, trying, unusual, etc. or as an ordeal.

Derived terms

• racketeer, racketeering, tricky racket

Translations

Verb

racket (third-person singular simple present rackets, present participle racketing, simple past and past participle racketed)

1. (intransitive) To make a clattering noise.
2. (intransitive, dated) To be dissipated; to carouse.

References

Anagrams

• Eckart, retack, tacker

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English racket.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: rac?ket

Noun

racket n (plural rackets, diminutive racketje n)

1. racket (sports implement)

Derived terms

• tennisracket

French

Etymology

From English racket.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a.k?t/

Noun

racket m (plural rackets)

1. racketeering
2. racket, extortion

Further reading

• “racket” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

From English racket

Noun

racket m (invariable)

1. racketeering
2. racket, extortion

Derived terms

• antiracket

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• rekkert

Etymology

From Arabic ??????? (r??a, “palm of the hand”), via French raquette, and English racket

Noun

racket m (definite singular racketen, indefinite plural racketer, definite plural racketene)

1. (sports) a racket or racquet
2. (table tennis) a bat, or paddle (US)

References

• “racket” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• rekkert

Etymology

From Arabic ??????? (r??a, “palm of the hand”), via French raquette, and English racket

Noun

racket m (definite singular racketen, indefinite plural racketar, definite plural racketane)

1. (sports) a racket or racquet
2. (table tennis) a bat, or paddle (US)

References

• “racket” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

English

Etymology

From Bedlam, alternative name of the English lunatic asylum, Bethlem Royal Hospital (royal hospital from 1375, mental hospital from 1403) (earlier St Mary of Bethlehem outside Bishopsgate, hospice in existence from 1329, priory established 1247), since used to mean “a place or situation of madness and chaos”. Bedlam as name of hospital attested 1450.

Phonologically, corruption of Bethlem, itself a corruption of Bethlehem (the Biblical town), from Ancient Greek ??????? (B?thleém) from Biblical Hebrew ????? ?????? (bê? le?em, literally “house of bread”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?dl?m/

Noun

bedlam (plural bedlams)

1. A place or situation of chaotic uproar, and where confusion prevails.
2. (obsolete) An insane person; a lunatic; a madman.
   • ca. 1605, William Shakespeare, King Lear, Act III, sc. 7:

     Let's follow the old Earl, and get the Bedlam

     To lead him where he would; his roguish madness

     Allows itself to anything.

   • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, Christian overtakes Faithful:

     The pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment as was diverse from the raiment of any that traded in that fair. The people, therefore, of the fair, made a great gazing upon them: some said they were fools, some they were bedlams, and some they are outlandish men.

3. (obsolete) A lunatic asylum; a madhouse.
   • 1824, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto XIV:lxxxiv:

     Shut up the world at large, let Bedlam out;

     And you will be perhaps surprised to find

     All things pursue exactly the same route,

     As now with those of soi-disant sound mind.

   • 1843, Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol":

     “There’s another fellow,” muttered Scrooge; who overheard him: “my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking about a merry Christmas. I’ll retire to Bedlam.”

   • ca. 1909, Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, Letter II:

     ... only the holy can stand the joys of that bedlam.

Descendants

• ? Russian: ??????? (bedlám)

Translations

Further reading

• Bethlem Royal Hospital on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• bedlam in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• ambled, balmed, beldam, blamed, lambed