🧹 To gather leaves 🧹 A yard tool 🔍 To search through 🤏 To scratch lightly 🎩 An immoral man 🌄 To sweep across 👀 To scan quickly 📐 A slope angle

to rake

9 2.1

To touch or move across a surface leaving a small scratch

verb
/reɪk/

: raspar

I keep a wide tooth comb in my shower too with my extensions and I just kind of gently rake the conditioner through my hair.
raked by claws
raked with nails
raked across the hand

I keep a wide tooth comb in my shower too with my extensions and I just kind of gently rake the conditioner through my hair.

Examples

So just kind of push it down and rake it over and scrape off any extra.
"It's nothing," she said, raking her fork over her mashed potatoes.

Fiction book (1993)
Now, you don't want to be raking this through like soaking wet hair.
Leaning into the mirror above it, she raked her fingers through her short brown pageboy.

Fiction book (1995)
Our police chief is often spotted raking a hand through his thin, whitening hair, loosening his collar.

Fiction book (1996)
He gently raked the leaves into a neat pile in the yard.
She raked her fingers lightly through the sand, creating patterns.
After the rain, I raked the mud off the surface of the patio.

Synonyms

brushed

vsto rake

1 3.4

Touched lightly while passing by

scrapes or scratches gently with more definite contact than a simple grazing touch

to shave

vsto rake

1 3.7

Move very close to a surface and touch it lightly

scrapes or scratches with light contact rather than merely passing closely

to scritch

vsto rake

Informal

1 8.8

To gently rub an animal's fur to make it feel good

scrapes or scratches gently without aiming to soothe or comfort the subject

Antonyms

to destroy

∞ 1.0

Damage something so badly that it cannot be used or fixed

to damage

323 1.4

To harm something so it becomes less useful, valuable, or healthy

Idioms

to rake over the coals

Informal

6 7.9

Scold someone very strongly for a mistake

to rake in a fortune

Informal

1 4.3

To earn a lot of money quickly with little work

to step on a rake

Informal

1 8.6

To have unexpected problems because of your own mistake

to rake over old coals

Informal

8.4

To bring up old arguments or painful memories again

Phrasal Verbs

to rake in

Informal

33 4.6

To earn a large amount of money with little effort

to rake the leaves

3 1.3

To gather fallen leaves from the ground using a long-handled tool

to rake up

Informal

1 6.8

Bring up old unpleasant events or arguments in public unnecessarily

to rake off

NSFW

1 9.1

Take money secretly from payments, often in an illegal way

to rake over

Informal

1 7.1

Carefully examine and discuss a topic, often when it is difficult or unpleasant

to rake together

Informal

1 6.7

Gather money, papers, or people quickly, often with effort

to rake over the past

Informal

1 7.1

To keep talking about old mistakes or bad events unnecessarily

to rake up old memories

Informal

1 6.8

Remember past events on purpose, often ones you would rather forget

Compounds

garden rake

1 1.7

A tool with a long handle and a bar with teeth for gathering leaves or smoothing soil

rake handle

1 2.5

A long stick used to hold a garden tool for moving leaves

rake-off

Literature

1 8.9

A small secret share taken from money or profits by dishonest people

croupier's rake

Jargon

1 9.9

A small tool a casino dealer uses to move and collect chips on the table

fine-toothed rake

4.9

A garden tool with many close teeth for gathering leaves and small debris

How Gentle

to touch

∞ 1.0

to rake

9 2.1

graze

5 3.4

to scratch

100 1.1

to gouge

27 7.2

Surface Forms

rake infinitive

raked past

raked past participle

raking present participle

rakes third person singular

Etymology

Rake (verb: scratch lightly) comes from the original sense 'to scrape', so to rake a surface gently is to make a small, shallow scrape without deep damage.