Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—R

Rack-rent

The actual value or rent of a tenement, and not that modified form on which the rates and taxes are usually levied. (Saxon, raecan, to stretch; Dutch, racken.)

“A rent which is equivalent, or nearly equivalent in amount, to the full annual value of the land, is a rack-rent.” —Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. xx. p. 403.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Rack and Manger
Rack
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