racks

v. to cause someone to feel great physical or mental pain.

v. to subject someone to intense suffering, torture, or distress. Transitive verb; often used in the passive voice.

“He was racked by guilt after he lied to his best friend.”

“The patient was racked by violent coughing fits that left him exhausted and unable to speak for hours.”

Literary

v. to try very hard to remember something or solve a problem.

v. to strain or exert one's mental faculties to the utmost. Almost exclusively used in the idiom 'rack one's brains'.

“She racks her brains every time she tries to remember her old password.”

“The detective spent the entire night racking his brains, trying to find a single inconsistency in the suspect's alibi.”