rack rent

▸ noun an extortionate or very high rent, especially an annual rent equivalent to the full value of the property to which it relates.

▸ (rack-rent) verb [with object] dated exact an excessive or extortionate rent from (a tenant) or for (a property):

(rack-renting as noun) hundreds of thousands of peasants who hate corruption, rack-renting, and foreign intervention

(rack-renting as adjective) rack-renting landlords.

– DERIVATIVES

rack-renter /ˈrakˌrɛntə

/ noun

– ORIGIN late 16th century (as rack-rented): from the verb rack1 (in the sense ‘cause stress’) + the noun rent1.