wreck

Definitions

1. noun

   Something or someone that has been ruined.

   Example

   • He was an emotional wreck after the death of his wife.
   ≈basket case, mess
2. noun

   The remains of something that has been severely damaged or worn down.

   Examples

   • To the fair haven of my native home, / The vvreck of vvhat I was, fatigued I come, […]
   • In 2006, 18-year-old Nikki Catsouras was killed in a car wreck in Lake Forest.
3. noun

   An event in which something is damaged through collision.

   Examples

   • Hard and obſtinate, / As is a rocke amidſt the raging floods: / gaynſt vvhich a ſhip of ſuccour deſolate, / doth ſuffer vvreck both of her ſelfe and goods.
   • the wrecks of matter and the crush of worlds
4. noun

   A shipwreck: an event in which a ship is heavily damaged or destroyed.

5. noun

   Goods, etc. cast ashore by the sea after a shipwreck.

6. noun

   A large number of birds that have been brought to the ground, injured or dead, by extremely adverse weather.

   Example

   • [I]n 1952 more than 7,000 were involved in such a "wreck" in Britain and Ireland.
7. verb

   To destroy violently; to cause severe damage to something, to a point where it no longer works, or is useless.

   Examples

   • He wrecked the car in a collision.
   • That adulterous hussy wrecked my marriage!
8. verb

   To ruin or dilapidate.

9. verb

   To plunder goods from wrecked ships.

10. verb

    To dismantle wrecked vehicles or other objects, to reclaim any useful parts.