Forms: 7 arak, aracke, 7–9 arack, 9 arrac, 7– arrack. Aphet. 7– rack. [Ultimately Arab., saraq sweat, juice, esp. in saraq at-tamr ‘the (fermented) juice of the date,’ whence extended to all sorts of fermented beverages. The word has been adopted in all Mohammedan countries; the Pg. araca, araque, Sp. arac, Fr. arack, and Eng. arrack, are taken from Indian vernaculars, with the Indian sense. See also RACK]
A name applied in Eastern countries to any spirituous liquor of native manufacture; especially, that distilled from the fermented sap of the coco-palm, or from rice and sugar, fermented with the coco-nut juice.
[1516. Barbosa, Trav., transl. Ld. Stanley (Hakl.), 59. They bring cocoa-nuts, huraca (which is something to drink).]
1602–5. E. Scot, Java, in Purchas (1625), I. 173. Kept a victualing house, and brewed Aracke.
1694. T. R., in Phil. Trans., XVIII. 277. A sort of Jaundise, contracted by the frequent drinking of Arak or Rack.
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1729), I. 293. Arack is distill’d also from Rice, and other things.
1782. J. Trumbull, M‘Fingal, IV. And well invok’d with punch of arrack, Hold converse sweet in tent or barrack.
1834. Penny Cycl., II. 233/1. Arack or Arrac.
1859. Tennent, Ceylon, II. 127. Toddy drawers … ascending the (coco-nut) trees in quest of the sap drawn from the spathes of the unopened flowers to be distilled into arrack.
b. attrib.
1602–5. E. Scot, Java, in Purchas, I. 184. Drave them into a Racke-house.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand. (1812), I. 102. The arrack punch with which he treated them.
1808. Orient. Field Sports, I. 88. The bad effects of these arrack shops.
