Raking

Raking is the act of using a rake, a long-handled tool with tines, to move and collect material on the ground. In gardening and landscaping, raking clears fallen leaves, loosens soil, breaks up thatch, and levels seedbeds. Different rake types serve different tasks, such as leaf rakes for debris and garden or landscape rakes for soil work. Raking is a common maintenance activity in homes, parks, and farms.

Raking light is a lighting technique used in art conservation and archaeology. By directing illumination at a surface from a shallow angle, raking light emphasizes texture, brushwork, and surface irregularities that are not visible under straight-on lighting. It aids assessment of condition, guides cleaning decisions, and helps document surface features.

In gambling, the rake is the house commission taken from each pot in games such as poker. Raking describes the act of collecting this fee. The rake is often a percentage of the pot, sometimes capped, and may be taken per hand or per game. Rules vary by venue and game type and a rake constitutes revenue for the house.

In survey methodology, raking (or iterative proportional fitting) is a weighting technique that adjusts a sample to match known population margins across multiple variables, such as age, sex, and region. The process iteratively alters weights to reduce bias from nonresponse or sampling differences, producing estimates that better reflect the target population.