Rake (tool)

A Rake (Old English raca, cognate with Dutch raak, German Rechen, from a root meaning "to scrape together," "heap up") is an agricultural and horticultural implement consisting of a toothed bar fixed transversely to a handle, and used for the collection of leaves, cut hay and grass, etc., and, in gardening, for loosening the soil, light weeding and levelling, and generally for purposes performed in agriculture by the harrow.

Modern hand-rakes usually have steel, plastic, or bamboo teeth, though historically they have been made with wood or iron. The handle is often made of wood or metal. When rakes have longer teeth, they may be arranged in the shape of an old-style folding fan. Large versions mounted on wheels with a bar connecting long curved steel teeth can be used with tractors, descended from a horse-drawn type used prior to the growth of mechanical farming.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.