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Webster 1913 Edition

Dark

Dark

(därk)
,
Adj.
[OE.
dark
,
derk
,
deork
, AS.
dearc
,
deorc
; cf. Gael. & Ir.
dorch
,
dorcha
, dark, black, dusky.]
1.
Destitute, or partially destitute, of light; not receiving, reflecting, or radiating light; wholly or partially black, or of some deep shade of color; not light-colored;
as, a
dark
room; a
dark
day;
dark
cloth;
dark
paint; a
dark
complexion.
O
dark
,
dark
,
dark
, amid the blaze of noon,
Irrecoverably
dark
, total eclipse
Without all hope of day!
Milton.
In the
dark
and silent grave.
Sir W. Raleigh.
2.
Not clear to the understanding; not easily seen through; obscure; mysterious; hidden.
The
dark
problems of existence.
Shairp.
What may seem
dark
at the first, will afterward be found more plain.
Hooker.
What’s your
dark
meaning, mouse, of this light word?
Shakespeare
3.
Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant.
The age wherein he lived was
dark
, but he
Could not want light who taught the world to see.
Denhan.
The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediæval historians as the
darkest
part of this intellectual night.
Hallam.
4.
Evincing black or foul traits of character; vile; wicked; atrocious;
as, a
dark
villain; a
dark
deed.
Left him at large to his own
dark
designs.
Milton.
5.
Foreboding evil; gloomy; jealous; suspicious.
More
dark
and
dark
our woes.
Shakespeare
A deep melancholy took possesion of him, and gave a
dark
tinge to all his views of human nature.
Macaulay.
There is, in every true woman-s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the
dark
hour of adversity.
W. Irving.
6.
Deprived of sight; blind.
[Obs.]
He was, I think, at this time quite
dark
, and so had been for some years.
Evelyn.
☞ Dark is sometimes used to qualify another adjective;
as,
dark
blue,
dark
green, and sometimes it forms the first part of a compound; as,
dark
-haired,
dark
-eyed,
dark
-colored,
dark
-seated,
dark
-working.
A dark horse
,
in racing or politics, a horse or a candidate whose chances of success are not known, and whose capabilities have not been made the subject of general comment or of wagers
.
[Colloq.]
–
Dark house
,
Dark room
,
a house or room in which madmen were confined.
[Obs.]
Shak.
–
Dark lantern
.
See
Lantern
.
– The
Dark Ages
,
a period of stagnation and obscurity in literature and art, lasting, according to Hallam, nearly 1000 years, from about 500 to about 1500
A. D.
. See
Middle Ages
, under
Middle
.
–
The Dark and Bloody Ground
,
a phrase applied to the State of Kentucky, and said to be the significance of its name, in allusion to the frequent wars that were waged there between Indians.
–
The dark day
,
a day (May 19, 1780) when a remarkable and unexplained darkness extended over all New England.
–
To keep dark
,
to reveal nothing.
[Low]

Dark

(därk)
,
Noun.
1.
Absence of light; darkness; obscurity; a place where there is little or no light.
Here stood he in the
dark
, his sharp sword out.
Shakespeare
2.
The condition of ignorance; gloom; secrecy.
Look, what you do, you do it still i' th'
dark
.
Shakespeare
Till we perceive by our own understandings, we are as much in the
dark
, and as void of knowledge, as before.
Locke.
3.
(Fine Arts)
A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, or the like;
as, the light and
darks
are well contrasted
.
The lights may serve for a repose to the
darks
, and the
darks
to the lights.
Dryden.

Dark

,
Verb.
T.
To darken; to obscure.
[Obs.]
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Dark

D'ARK

, a.
1.
Destitute of light; obscure. A dark atmosphere is one which prevents vision.
2.
Wholly or partially black; having the quality opposite to white; as a dark color or substance.
3.
Gloomy; disheartening; having unfavorable prospects; as a dark time in political affairs.
There is in every true woman's heart a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity. Irving.
4.
Obscure; not easily understood or explained; as a dark passage in an author; a dark saying.
5.
Mysterious; as, the ways of Providence are often dark to human reason.
6.
Not enlightened with knowledge; destitute of learning and science; rude; ignorant; as a dark age.
7.
Not vivid; partially black. Lev. xiii
8.
Blind.
9.
Gloomy; not cheerful; as a dark temper.
10. Obscure; concealed; secret; not understood; as a dark design.
11. Unclean; foul.
12. Opake. But dark and opake are not synonymous. Chalk is opake, but not dark.
13. Keeping designs concealed.
The dark unrelenting Tiberius. Gibbon.

D'ARK

,
Noun.
1.
Darkness; obscurity; the absence of light. We say we can hear in the dark.
Shall the wonders be known in the dark? Ps. 1xxxviii.
2.
Obscurity; secrecy; a state unknown; as, things done in the dark.
3.
Obscurity; a state of ignorance; as, we are all in the dark.

D'ARK

, v.t.
1.
To make dark; to deprive of light; as, close the shutters and darken the room.
2.
To obscure; to cloud.
His confidence seldom darkened his foresight. Bacon.
3.
To make black.
The locusts darkened the land. Ex. x.
4.
To make dim; to deprive of vision.
Let their eyes be darkened. Rom xi.
5.
To render gloomy; as, all joy is darkened. Is.24.
6.
To deprive of intellectual vision; to render ignorant or stupid.
Their foolish heart was darkened. Rom. i.
Having the understanding darkened. Eph. iv.
7.
To obscure; to perplex; to render less clear or intelligible.
Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Job 38.
8.
To render less white or clear; to tan; as, a burning sun darkens the complexion.
9.
To sully; to make foul.

Definition 2024

dark

dark

English

Adjective

A fairly dark (lacking light) railroad station, with a very dark (lacking light) tunnel beyond

dark ‎(comparative darker, superlative darkest)

  1. Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.
    The room was too dark for reading.‎
    • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapter1:
      They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?—and so magnificent a brush as he had too.
    • 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
    1. (of a source of light) Extinguished.
      Dark signals should be treated as all-way stop signs.‎
    2. Deprived of sight; blind.
      • John Evelyn (1620-1706)
        He was, I think, at this time quite dark, and so had been for some years.
  2. (of colour) Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.
    my sister's hair is darker than mine;  her skin grew dark with a suntan‎
    • 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
      Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
    • 1977, Agatha Christie, An Autobiography, Part II, chapter2:
      If I close my eyes I can see Marie today as I saw her then. Round, rosy face, snub nose, dark hair piled up in a chignon.
  3. Hidden, secret, obscure.
    1. Not clear to the understanding; not easily through; obscure; mysterious; hidden.
    2. (gambling, of race horses) Having racing capability not widely known.
  4. Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malign.
    a dark villain;  a dark deed‎
    • John Milton (1608-1674)
      Left him at large to his own dark designs.
  5. Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.
    the Great Depression was a dark time;  the film was a dark psychological thriller‎
    • Thomas Macaulay (1800-1859)
      A deep melancholy took possession of him, and gave a dark tinge to all his views of human nature.
    • Washington Irving (1783-1859)
      There is, in every true woman's heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the dark hour of adversity.
  6. Lacking progress in science or the arts; said of a time period.
    • Sir John Denham (1614-1669)
      The age wherein he lived was dark, but he / Could not want light who taught the world to see.
    • Arthur Hallam (1811-1833)
      The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediaeval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night.
  7. With emphasis placed on the unpleasant aspects of life; said of a work of fiction, a work of nonfiction presented in narrative form or a portion of either.
    The ending of this book is rather dark.‎

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

dark ‎(usually uncountable, plural darks)

  1. A complete or (more often) partial absence of light.
    • Shakespeare
      Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword out.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess:
      The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […].
    • 2013 July 20, “Out of the gloom”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
      [Rural solar plant] schemes are of little help to industry or other heavy users of electricity. Nor is solar power yet as cheap as the grid. For all that, the rapid arrival of electric light to Indian villages is long overdue. When the national grid suffers its next huge outage, as it did in July 2012 when hundreds of millions were left in the dark, look for specks of light in the villages.
    Dark surrounds us completely.‎
  2. (uncountable) Ignorance.
    We kept him in the dark.‎
    The lawyer was left in the dark as to why the jury was dismissed.‎
    • Shakespeare
      Look, what you do, you do it still i' th' dark.
    • John Locke
      Till we perceive by our own understandings, we are as much in the dark, and as void of knowledge, as before.
  3. (uncountable) Nightfall.
    It was after dark before we got to playing baseball.‎
  4. A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc.
    • Dryden
      The lights may serve for a repose to the darks, and the darks to the lights.

Translations

Derived terms

See also

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: terms · sort · town · #436: dark · ye · common · subject

Anagrams

Italian

Etymology

English

Adjective

dark ‎(invariable)

  1. dark (used especially to describe a form of punk music)

Etymology

From Middle English derk, from Old English deorc ‎(“dark, obscure, gloomy, without light, dreadful, horrible, sad, cheerless, sinister, wicked”), from Proto-Germanic *derkaz ‎(“dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰerg- ‎(“dim, dull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- ‎(“dull, dirty”). Cognate with Middle High German derken, terken ‎(“to darken, sully”) and Persian تاریک ‎(tārīk, “dark”).

Pronunciation

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