Definition of "carrack" [car•rack]

• A large galleon used in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I suspect, however, that they must have been nearly, if not entirely, decked over -- in fact, that they were what are now called flush-decked vessels, while probably the carrack was a frigate-built ship, or, at all events, a ship with a high poop and forecastle."
• "In the Lansd. MS., British Museum, No. 70., there is a letter from Mr. Richard Champernowne to Sir Robert Cecil, dated in 1592, referring to the discovery of some articles pillaged from the Spanish carrack, which had then recently been captured and taken into Dartmouth harbour."
• "He informed Heemskerk of the arrival in the straits of Malacca of an immense Lisbon carrack, laden with pearls and spices, brocades and precious-stones, on its way to Europe, and suggested an attack."