wreak

Etymology 1

From Middle English wreken, from Old English wrecan, from Proto-West Germanic *wrekan, from Proto-Germanic *wrekaną, from root *wrek-, from Proto-Indo-European *wreg- (“push, shove, drive, track down”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with Dutch wreken, German rächen, Swedish vräka; cognate via PIE with Latin Latin urgere (English urge), and distantly cognate with English wreck.

verb

1. (transitive) To cause harm; to afflict; to inflict; to harm or injure; to let out harm.
   The earthquake wreaked havoc in the city.
   She wreaked her anger on his car.
   On the Saturday, October 1, the torrential rains began to wreak damage east of Exeter. 1960 December, “Talking of Trains: The railways and the Devon floods”, in Trains Illustrated, page 709
   Against a backdrop of economic devastation wreaked by COVID-19, from which the railway has been almost totally insulated by massive sums of public money, the RMT rail union is now calling for industrial action as a pay freeze beckons. December 2 2020, Philip Haigh, “A winter of discontent caused by threat of union action”, in Rail, page 62
2. (transitive) To chasten, or chastise/chastize, or castigate, or punish, or smite.
   The police abused their authority to wreak an innocent.
   The criminal has been wreaked by the Judge to spend a year in prison.
   Now was the time to be avenged on his old enemy, to wreak a grudge of seventeen years. 1841, Thomas Macaulay, Warren Hastings
3. (archaic) To inflict or take vengeance on.
   their woe / Broods maddening inwardly and scorns to wreak / Itself abroad; 1874, James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night
4. (archaic) To take vengeance for.
5. (intransitive) Misspelling of reek.
   She wreaked of liquor. She also wreaked of anger, despair and unsatisfied sexuality, all mixed together. 2007, Bruce Morse, Forgive Myself

Etymology 2

From Middle English wreke, wrake, Northern Middle English variants of wreche, influenced later by Etymology 1, above. Compare Dutch wraak.

noun

1. (archaic, literary) Revenge; vengeance; furious passion; resentment.
   Would that before my death I might but see my son The empery in my stead over the people hold And rush upon his foes and take on them his wreak, At push of sword and pike, in fury uncontrolled. 1901, “The History of King Omar Ben Ennuman and His Sons Sherkan and Zoulmekan”, in John Payne, transl., The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, volume 2
   However, no thought touch'd Minerva's mind, That any one should escape his wreak design'd. 1903, George Chapman, Richard Herne Shepherd, Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Works of George Chapman
   For three causes Duke William entered this land to subdue Harold. One was, for that it was to him given by King Edward his nephew. The second was, to take wreak for the cruel murder of his nephew Alfred, King Edward's brother, and of the Normans, which deed he ascribed chiefly to Harold. 2003, John Foxe, John Cumming, Book of Martyrs and the Acts and Monuments of the Church
2. (archaic, literary) Punishment; retribution; payback.
   Of a surety none murdered the damsel but I; take her wreak on me this moment; for, an thou do not thus, I will require it of thee before Almighty Allah. 1885, “The Tale of the Three Apples”, in Sir Richard Burton, transl., The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume 1