1612 T. Taylor Αρχὴν Ἁπάντων: Comm. Epist. Paul to Titus (i. 7) 156 For whence are oppressings, rent-rackings, vsuries,..and murders?

1831 Reformer's Gaz. 1 266 I have not at any time observed any hits at the rent-racking system practised by Highland proprietors on their tenantry.

1935 L. B. Wright Middle-class Culture Elizabethan Eng. ii. xii. 424 From the time of Henry VIII onward, there was an abundance of verse complaint against taxes, monopolies, inclosing, rent-racking, the competition of foreign artisans..and similar evils.

1997 William & Mary Q. 54 754 Usury was synonymous with oppression when goods were sold on credit at unfair prices, with rent racking when lodging was provided on credit at inflated rates.

1612 R. Carpenter Soules Sentinel 50 Getting goods wrongfully, as too many rent-racking Land-lords do.

1658 R. Brathwait Honest Ghost 90 Many a biting-grating-Usurer, Rent-racking Lanlord, hoording Cormorant.

1872 Belfast Newsletter 30 July 3/3 A swindler of the meanest type, a legal robber, and a rent-racking exterminator.

1995 J. A. Barnes Irish-American Landmarks 120 She grew up amid the horrors of the ‘land war’ between impoverished Irish peasants and their rent-racking landlords.