English

Noun

rack and ruin ‎(uncountable)

1. (idiomatic, proscribed) Complete destruction.
   • 1599, Thomas Fowler, The history of Corpus Christi College:

     In the mean season the College shall goe to rack and ruin.^[1]

Usage notes

Etymologically incorrect, due to confusion of rack ‎(“torture, suffer”) with wrack ‎(“destroy”). Correct is wrack and ruin, which is accordingly preferred by style guides; however, both are common and well-established. Unusually, rack and ruin replaces wrack with rack, presumably by alliteration; other confusions instead replace rack with wrack.

References

1. 1 2 Gary Martin, “Rack and ruin”, The Phrase Finder