Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to go to bed [presumably similar to ety. at sense 2, the idea of putting oneself ‘on the rack’; the link to rack n.² (3) is coincidental; cit. 1986 is ambiguous].

1832		Egan Bk of Sports 3: Until the hands of the clock pointed out to him that it was time to ‘rack up’ for the night.
1986		C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 185: Figures the kid would rack up there until dark.

2. (also rack on) to retire, to abandon an occupation or action [pool imagery: one puts one’s cue in the rack].

1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 227: I had to get away [...] I had to rack up on this rat-race before the trap was sprung.
1948		Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 748: Rack on away from here!
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 25: Terry had racked up before those little blood trickles washed away his reason.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 212: rack up, v. – to send convicts to their cells.

3. to stop doing something.

1959

J. Blake letter 25 June in Joint (1972) 139: Lights Out whistle just blew, have to rack it up.

4. (also rack back) to accumulate, to register or to achieve [pool imagery: one racks up the balls].

1953		E. Reid Shame of N.Y. 42: Joseph Stracci, alias Joe Stretch, who racked up an extensive criminal record in the 107th Street Mob.
1964		L. Hansberry Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window in Three Negro Plays (1969) I ii: She’s racking up thousands of tax-free dollars a year.
1969		N. Cohn Awopbop. (1970) 129: Paul McCartney, who had racked up five ‘O’-levels.
1977		(con. 1960s) D. Goines Black Gangster (1991) 247: Rack ’em back . . . give everybody a fuckin’ drink.
1998		C. Fleming High Concept 124: Simpson had racked up so many [violations].
2000		F. Kellerman Stalker (2001) 123: These ambulances are a scam. All they ever do is rack up hospital bills.
2007		C. Goffard Snitch Jacket 52: I’d racked up about a grand’s worth of tickets.
2008		J. Niven Kill Your Friends (2009) 26: A few months of this [lifestyle] and you soon rack up another twenty Gs.
2019		C.D. Rosales Word Is Bone [ebook] This guy wasn’t bigtime [...] but that meant he was meaner, trying to rack up points with EastSide Trece.
2020		G. Armstrong Young Team 33: Azzy Boy hud awready racked up a fair eld few [charges].