E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
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, ræcan, to stretch; Dutch, racken.)
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“A rent which is equivalent, or nearly equivalent in amount, to the full annual value of the land, is a rack-rent.”—Encyclopœdia Britannica, vol. xx. p. 403.
