racket

Etymology 1

From Middle English raket. Possibly cognate with Middle French rachette, requette (“palm of the hand”). Possibly from Arabic رَاحَةْ اَلْيَد (rāḥat 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

1. (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.
   Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall. 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
2. (Canada) A snowshoe formed of cords stretched across a long and narrow frame of light wood.
3. A broad wooden shoe or patten for a man or horse, to allow walking on marshy or soft ground.

verb

1. To strike with, or as if with, a racket.
   Poor man [is] racketed from one temptation to another. 1658, John Hewytt, Nine Select Sermons

Etymology 2

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

noun

1. A loud noise.
   Power tools work quickly, but they sure make a racket.
   With all the racket they're making, I can't hear myself think!
   What's all this racket?
2. An illegal scheme for profit; a fraud or swindle; or both coinstantiated.
   prostitution and gambling controlled by rackets
   They had quite a racket devised to relieve customers of their money.
   War is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives... Of course, it isn't put that crudely in war time. It is dressed into speeches about patriotism, love of country, and "we must all put our shoulders to the wheel," but the profits... skyrocket—and are safely pocketed. 1935, Smedley Butler, War is a Racket, page 1 & 7
   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. 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift, page 408
3. (dated, slang) A carouse; any reckless dissipation.
4. (dated, slang) Something taking place considered as exciting, trying, unusual, etc. or as an ordeal.

verb

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