Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Darkling

Dark′ling

(därk′lĭng)
,
adv.
[
Dark
+ the adverbial suffix
-ling
.]
In the dark.
[Poetic]
So, out went the candle, and we were left
darkling
.
Shakespeare
As the wakeful bird

Sings darkling
.
Milton.

Dark′ling

,
p.
pr.
&
Adj.
1.
Becoming dark or gloomy; frowing.
His honest brows
darkling
as he looked towards me.
Thackeray.
2.
Dark; gloomy.
“The darkling precipice.”
Moore.

Webster 1828 Edition


Darkling

D'ARKLING

,
Adj.
Being in the dark, or without light; a poetical word.

Definition 2024


darkling

darkling

English

Noun

darkling (plural darklings)

  1. Darkness.
  2. (fantasy) A creature that lives in the dark.

Adjective

darkling (comparative more darkling, superlative most darkling)

  1. Dark; darkening.
    • 1867, Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach:
      And we are here as on a darkling plain
      Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
      Where ignorant armies clash by night
  2. obscure; done or happening 'in the dark' or unseen.

Adverb

darkling (comparative more darkling, superlative most darkling)

  1. In the dark; in obscurity.
    • Shakespeare, King Lear
      So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling.
    • Milton
      As the wakeful bird sings darkling.

Verb

darkling

  1. present participle of darkle

References

  • Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967