Racket

“ On the other hand, a racket must have wood enough in the frame to make it perfectly unyielding when striking a ball, and must be heavy enough to give an effective stroke. These conditions are fulfilled in a racket of 141⁄4 to 141⁄2 oz.; a [9] lighter one loses something in power, and a heavier one is unmanageable for most men. One meets from time to time a player with a racket of 15 or 151⁄2 oz., who shows it with pride, and explains that his wrist is so strong that he requires an unusual racket. ”

“ No player should have a racket that he cannot hold absolutely stiff from the very end of the handle. It is essential that a racket should be light enough for him to volley with it at the very end of his reach without any yielding in his wrist. If his wrist is not strong enough to stand this strain with a racket of the usual weight, it is better for him to use a lighter one. ”

“ As a matter of fact, such a player seldom uses his wrist at all, but rather he should be thankful for the advantage that a good wrist gives him, instead of handicapping himself by using an absurdly heavy racket. Almost more important than the weight of the racket is its balance. By balance is meant the way in which a racket hangs in the hand. Many rackets of 14 oz. feel as heavy as others of 141⁄2 oz. There is only one way of judging the balance, and that is by holding the racket by the end of the handle, as if in actual play, and trying how it comes up, and if it feels light or heavy. ”

“ With practice, you will manage to return a ball that has bounded five or six feet beyond you. Try also the same stroke on the forehand side. You can get in this way alone more practice in handling a racket, and in making the eye and hand work together, than you are likely to get in ten times the length of time out of doors. Ask some friend, who really knows, to tell you if you hold your racket in the right way, and to point out to you any faults of style that you may have. It is of the greatest importance not to handicap yourself at the start by acquiring bad form. ”

“ How to hold the Racket—One finds many different ways of holding the racket among good players, and no exact rule has ever been received as correct. Still, nearly all good players observe certain principles in holding a racket. It is of the first importance that you should be able to play a ball either fore- or back-handed without changing your hold on the racket. If the hold is changed, there is always danger of not getting the racket into the right position quickly enough. ”

“ The weight of your racket should vary according to your strength of wrist, and should depend on whether you volley or play entirely from the back of the court. I am inclined to think there is a tendency on the part of lady players to use too light a racket. ”

“ A ball made of india rubber and covered with cloth, and a "racket" for each player are the implements needed for playing. The racket is used for handling the ball, and is about two feet in length, with net work at the outer end, by means of which the ball is tossed from one place to another. Rules for playing the game are obtained with the implements needed, which can be procured from dealers in such lines of goods. ”

“ When serving for speed only, the face of the racket should be brought fairly against the ball with no twist whatever, and the head of the racket should be made to come over on the top of the ball by a sharp bend of the wrist. When trying to put twist on the service, the racket should not meet the ball fairly, but should pass round on the outside of it ”

“ Care should be taken when making the racket to have the cup-shaped receptacle at the end of the shaft of such size as to hold the ball without its rolling about, in which case it would be easily dropped when being carried on a run; yet it must be large enough to catch and hold the ball as it is flying about. ”

“ Raise the racket at the same time as you throw up the ball, hit it with the centre of your racket, bringing your body forward with all its weight on to the ball, and transferring your weight from the right foot to the left at the moment of impact. Bring your racket right through, and finish a little to the left of your left knee. At the time you throw the ball into the air the left shoulder must be facing the net, and as your racket hits the ball and follows through to your left knee your body should be brought round to face the net. ”

“ We're right after him."
"You're not going to attempt anything to-night, are you?"
"No, I just want!o get the lay of things. I think we can work the racket better from a boat-end, as he'll fall easier for that; so we'll wait a couple of days. ”

“ The end of this flat end where it curls round upon the shaft or handle must be bound firmly to the shaft with thongs or heavy twine. Holes are sometimes bored through the rim and the thongs or twine are passed through them and woven into a loose netting to form a bottom to the coiled end, making a shallow cup-shaped receptacle in which to catch or hold the ball. The rackets are not difficult to make. Each lad should make his own racket and mark the stem with some device by which he can identify it should he drop it during the play. ”

“ If he fail to do this, a “fault” is called, or a “pass” if the ball has gone beyond the pass line. If he serves a second fault, his adversary scores a point, called a “stroke.” A pass counts for nothing, but annuls a previous fault. [1] It now becomes the duty of the adversary, called the “striker-out,” to return the ball by striking it with his racket in such a manner that it shall pass back over the net to the service side.
Plan of Tennis Court
Plan of Tennis Court. A, D, walls on each side of dedans; d, d, gallery walls; h, grille wall; f, net post; g, g, gallery post ”

“ RACKETT, THOMAS (1757–1841) , antiquary, born in 1757, was son of Thomas Rackett of Wandsworth, Surrey. At the age of fourteen he recited to Garrick the latter's ode for the Shakespearean jubilee so admirably that Garrick presented him ‘with a gilt copy of it.’ Next year (1771) Garrick gave him a folio copy of Shakespeare with a laudatory inscription. Forrest and Paul Sandby taught Rackett drawing. John Hunter directed his attention as a boy to the study of natural history, and gave him, what Rackett much valued, a piece of caoutchouc, then little known in England. ”

“ The motion of the ship and the noise of its machinery were scarcely discernible on deck or in the saloons, either day or night. But when Sunday morning came, I considered it high time to begin my customary exercises, and determined for the rest of the voyage to patronize the squash racquet court, the gymnasium, the swimming pool, etc. I was up early before breakfast and met the professional racquet player in a half hour’s warming up, preparatory for a swim in the six-foot deep tank of salt water, heated to a refreshing temperature. ”

“ The average player should use a racquet that weighs between 13 1/2 and 14 1/2 ounces inclusive. I think that the best results may be obtained by a balance that is almost even or slightly heavy on the head. Decide your handle from the individual choice. Pick the one that fits comfortably in the hand. Do not use too small a handle or too light a racquet, as it is apt to turn in the hand. I recommend a handle of 5 1/4 to 5 3/8 inches at the grip. Do not use a racquet you do not like merely because your best friend advises it. ”

“ The swiftest of the merchant sailors laid hands on the pikes and whirled to cover their shipmates, until all hands could be armed. Then the gun came roaring down at them but they ducked behind the mast or stepped watchfully aside. Men condemned to death are not apt to lose their wits in the face of one more peril.
These pikes were ashen shafts with long steel points and the merchant seamen had been trained to use them. And the brawn of these lads made the pike a match for a pirate's cutlass. Ned Rackham bounded forward to swing at the broad, deep-chested boatswain. ”

“ When a power sustains a weight by a rope over a fixed sheave, the weight and power will be equal; but if one end of the rope be fixed, and the sheave be movable with the weight, then the power will be but half the weight; but in a combination of sheaves, or pulleys, the power will be to the weight as 1 to the numbers of parts of the fall.—Ground-tackle. Anchors, cables, &c.—Tack-tackle. A small tackle used to pull down the tacks of the principal sails to their respective stations, and particularly attached to the main-sails of brigs, sloops, cutters, and schooners. ”

“ A Cricket-rattle is about the liveliest form of rattle ever devised (Fig. 114) . After constructing one for your sister or brother, you probably will decide to make one for yourself. For this rattle, first prepare a notched spool (A, Fig. 116) . The notches in this need not be cut as perfectly as shown, but the notches in one end of the spool must be exactly opposite those in the other end. Whittle the handle B to the shape and size shown, cut the strips C out of cigar [Pg 76] box wood, and prepare the block D as shown. ”

“ A vessel is to weigh anchor to-morrow. I have been talking to a ship-rat of my acquaintance, who intends to sail in her, as he has done so before. He says that she is a capital old vessel, full of first-rate accommodation for rats; that Captain Blake keeps a very good table; that there is never any scarcity of pickings; and, in short, I am off for St. Petersburg, and mean to embark to-night: just say that you will go with me.”
“I’m your rat!” I exclaimed, highly delighted. “Would there be room for Oddity too?” ”

“ Both (2) and (3) are in origin to be connected. The O. E. reccan and Ger. recken mean “to stretch,” and so “rack” means something stretched out, a straight bar or rail, especially a toothed bar gearing with a cog-wheel, a framework of bars, as in the cradle of upright bars in which fodder can be placed for cattle, and the instrument of torture, which in Ger. is Recke or Rackbank. The “rack” for torture was an oblong frame of wood, slightly raised from the ground, having at one end a fixed bar to which the legs were fastened, and at the other a movable bar to which the hands were tied. ”

“ So he rocked and swayed to and fro, straining at his legs and reaching out with his arms—oh, yes! the rocking chair had arms, of course—and at last he was through the hole in the fence.
"I am free at last! Free!" exclaimed Racky in his own kind of a voice—a sort of squeak, peculiar to some rocking chairs. "I am free! No more shall I be sat on by fat, old ladies, though I really love Grandma Marden. ”

“ Thus the ends of the lower planks of a ship’s bottom terminate upon the stem afore, and the stern-post abaft, with whose sides their surfaces are even. The surface of the garboard streak, whose edge is let into the keel, is, in the same manner, level with the side of the keel at the extremities of the vessel.
RACKING, the fastening two opposite parts of a tackle together, so as that any weighty body suspended thereby, shall not fall down, although the rope, which forms the tackle, should be loosened by accident or neglect. ”

“ Instead of using a racquet, it is played with a curved wicker basket strapped on to the right wrist. This basket is not unlike in shape to those wicker-work covers which in pre-taxi days were placed by London hotel porters over the wheels of hansom-cabs to protect ladies' dresses in getting in or out of them. When a back-handed stroke is necessary, the player grasps his right wrist with his left hand, using his wicker-encased right hand as a racquet. The court is nearly three times the length of a racquet-court, and is always open to the air. ”

“ Ratch, rach, n. a rack or bar with teeth into which a click drops: the wheel which makes a clock strike: a white mark on the face of a horse.—v.t. to stretch: to streak.—v.i. to sail by tacks.—ns. Ratch′et, a bar acting on the teeth of a ratchet-wheel: a click or pall; Ratch′et-coup′ling, a device for uncoupling machinery in the event of a sudden stoppage; Ratch′et-drill, a tool for drilling holes, the bit mounted in a stock and rotated by a ratchet-wheel and lever; Ratch′et-jack, a form of screw-jack; Ratch′et-lē′ver, a lever fitted round a ratchet-wheel ”

“ A very good idea of the structure of the rattle may be formed by slipping a number of thimbles loosely into each other.
`The rattlesnake lies coiled with its head flat, and the tip of its tail elevated; when alarmed or irritated it gives a quivering movement to the tail which causes the joints of the rattle to shake against each other with a peculiar sound, not easily described; all animals, even horses newly brought from Europe, tremble at this noise, and try to escape.'
`What is the best thing to be done for the bite of a serpent?' inquired Fritz. ”

“ Rack is a further corruption; and rack-punch is perhaps not quite obsolete.
1603.—"We taking the But-ends of Pikes and Halberts and Faggot-sticks, drave them into a Racke-house."—E. Scot, in Purchas, i. 184. Purchas also has Vraca and other forms; and at i. 648 there is mention of a strong kind of spirit called Rack-apee (Malay āpī = 'fire') . See FOOL'S RACK.
1616.—"Some small quantitie of Wine, but not common, is made among them; they call it Raack, distilled from Sugar and a spicie Rinde of a Tree called Iagra [Jaggery] ."—Terry, in Purchas, ii. 1470. ”

“ She had lost her rudder about three hours before, and it was now found, on examination, that she had seven feet water in the hold. The chain-pumps were immediately manned, and such exertions were made that they seemed to gain on the leaks. By the advice of Mr. Rackum, the captain ordered the best bower anchor to be let go, but this did not bring her up. He then ordered the cable to be cut; and the jib and fore-top-mast stay-sail were hoisted to steer by. During this interval a violent gale, which had come on at S. E. kept increasing, and carrying the ship to the western shore. ”