different between racket vs mayhem

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

Alternative forms

• maihem

Etymology

From Middle English mayme, mahaime, from Anglo-Norman mahaim (“mutilation”), from Old French mahaign (“bodily harm, loss of limb”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijan? (“to cripple, injure”) (compare Middle High German meidem, meiden (“gelding”), Old Norse meiða (“to injure”), Gothic ???????????????????????????? (maidjan, “to alter, falsify”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to change”). More at mad. The original meaning referred to the crime of maiming, the other senses derived from this.

Another possible etymology derives the Old French from Provençal maganhar, composed of mal (“evil”) and ganhar (“to obtain, receive”) (compare with Spanish ganar and Italian gavagnare and guadagnare), so literally "to obtain, receive something evil).

Meaning #1 may have arisen by popular misunderstanding of the common journalese expression "rioting and mayhem".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?me?h?m/

Noun

mayhem (usually uncountable, plural mayhems)

1. A state or situation of great confusion, disorder, trouble or destruction; chaos.

   What if the legendary hero Robin Hood had been born into the mayhem of the 20th century ?

   In all the mayhem, some children were separated from their partners.

   She waded into the mayhem, elbowing between taller men to work her way to the front of the crowd.

   The clowns would dart into the crowd and pull another unsuspecting victim into the mayhem of the ring

2. Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing.

   The fighting dogs created mayhem in the flower beds.

3. (law) The maiming of a person by depriving him of the use of any of his limbs which are necessary for defense or protection.
4. (law) The crime of damaging things or harming people on purpose.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:disorder, Thesaurus:commotion

Translations

References