Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a comb; thus bug-rake, garden-rake.

1908		W.H. Davies Autobiog. of a Super-Tramp 210: If you carry in your hand a decent rake, (comb) a flashy pair of sniffs (scissors) and a card of good links and studs—that is certainly a good bible for a living.
1926		W.H. Davies Adventures of Johnny Walker 191: Combs – rakes.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 154: Rake.–A comb.
1935		Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 9: Rake: Comb.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 957/1: from ca. 1860.
c.1943		‘Bill O. Lading’ You Chirped a Chinful!! n.p.: Rake: Comb.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 814: rake – A comb.

2. (W.I.) in fig. uses [i.e. that which ‘smooths over’].

1952

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

3. (W.I.) a hunch.

1952		cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).
1974		cited in Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage (1996).

4. (W.I.) any form of trickiness, e.g. a duplicitous answer that hides the true situation.

1952

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).