▪ I. ark, n.
(ɑːk)
Forms: 1–4 arc, 1–2 earc, 1 ærc, erc, erk, ark, 2 eark, 3 (Orm.) arrke, 3–7 ark(e, 7 arcke, 4– ark.
[Common Teutonic: with OE. arc (earc, ærc, erc, erk), acc. arce, cf. OFris. erke, OHG. archa, mod.G. arche, ON. örk (gen. arkar), Sw., Da. ark, Goth. and OTeut. arka, prob. a. L. arca chest, box, coffer; whence OF. arche, also adopted in senses 2, 3, alongside of the native word: see arche.]
1. A chest, box, coffer, close basket, or similar receptacle; esp. a. in north. dial. a large wooden bin or hutch for storing meal, bread, fruit, etc.
| a 1000 Riddles (Gr.) lxii. 2 Oft mec fæste bileác freol{iacu}cu meowle ides on earce. c 1200 Ormin 18823 Þatt arrke þatt iss wrohht off tre. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 136 To þe ordre of Cisteans he gaf two þousand mark.. to lay vp in arke. 1535 Coverdale Ex. ii. 3 She toke an Arke of redes [Wyclif, a ionket of resshen; 1388 a leep of segge or seggis]. 1611 Ibid., An arke of bul-rushes. 1648 Herrick Hesper. Wks. (Gros.) II. 9 They With Wicker Arks did come To kiss and beare away The richer Couslips home. 1845 Petrie Eccl. Archit. Irel. 203 The relics of St. Ronan..were put into an ark or shrine. |
| a. c 1450 Henryson Mor. Fables 8 The cheese in Arke, and meill in Kist. 1557 Lanc. Wills i. (1857) 72 Ij gret arke standinge in the nursarie. 1724 Ramsay Tea-T. Misc. (1733) II. 181 My bairn has tocher of her awin, An ark, an ambry, and a ladle. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 42 And from the ark at last did take Meal forth for porridge and for cake. |
b. fig. ‘Casket, treasury.’
| c 1200 Ormin 8971 Ure laffdiȝ Marȝe..leȝȝde itt all..Inn hire þohhtess arrke. |
2. spec. in Jew. Hist. The wooden coffer containing the tables of the law, kept in the Holiest Place of the Tabernacle. Also called Ark of the Covenant, Ark of Testimony. See also arche.
| c 825 Vesp. Ps. cxxxi. 8 Ðu & erc ᵹehalᵹunge ðinre. c 1000 Ags. Ps. ibid., Þu earce eart eall-haliᵹra. a 1300 E.E. Psalter ibid., Þou, and arke of þi halinesse. 1382 Wyclif 1 Sam. vi. 11 Thei putten the arke of God upon the wayn. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 251 Therein An Ark, and in the Ark his Testimony. 1853 Maurice Proph. & Kings i. 4 The ark, the symbol of the people's unity, was captured by the Philistines. |
b. fig., as in phrases, to touch or lay hands on the ark: to interfere with, treat irreverently, what is held to be sacred; (in reference to 2 Sam. vi. 6.)
| 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. (1851) 100 The living arke of the holy Ghost. 1842 H. Rogers Introd. Burke's Wks. 83 Laying irreverent hands on the ark of the constitution. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. §1. 7 The House of Commons only touched the ark of our property with half a heart. |
3. The large covered floating vessel in which Noah was saved at the Deluge; hence fig. a place of refuge. (In 13–14th c. commonly arche.)
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xxiv. 38 Inneode in ærce Noë [Rushw. arkæ, Ags. & Hatt. earce]. c 1175 Cott. Hom. 225 Werc [MS. wrec] þe nu an arc. c 1200 Ormin 14542 Drihhtin badd Noe gan till & wirrkenn himm an arrke. 1382 Wyclif Gen. vi. 14 Make to thee an ark [v.r. schip] of planed trees. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. v. iv. 36 There is sure another flood toward, and these couples are comming to the Arke. 1679 Establ. Test. 46 No safety..out of the Ark of their Church. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 876 How spake the Serpent, and where stopped the Ark. 1863 Bright America, Sp. 3 Feb. (1876) 116 The United States has been..an ark of refuge to the people of Europe. |
4. transf. A ship, boat, or similar floating vessel; spec. in U.S., a large flat-bottomed boat formerly used on rivers for the transport of produce.
| 1475 Caxton Jason 67 b, That thou go into pyrre for to make an arke. 1640 Yorke Union Hon., Battels 64 Skilfull navigators, whereof the Admirall in the Arke royall was chiefe. a 1813 A. Wilson Foresters Poet. Wks. 244 Huge loaded arks rush down the boiling tide. 1822 J. Flint Lett. fr. Amer. 125 The beach is lined with keel boats, large arks for carrying produce, family boats. 1823 Byron Island i. viii, Commits him to his fragile ark. |
† 5. An enclosure for catching or confining fish. Obs. [So arche in Ger. dialects; and cf. G. and F. arche a coffer-dam.]
| 1883 Athenæum 2 June 695/3 That Edinburgh had an eel⁓ark of its own at the east end of the North Loch. |
6. Comb. and attrib., as ark-born, ark-ship. Also † ark-wold, the wooden sides or beams of the ark; ark-full, an assemblage as numerous and diverse as that which Noah's ark contained; ark-net, a kind of fish-trap (cf. eel-ark in 5); ark-shell, a species of bivalve mollusc.
| 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. II. 435 (Jod.) The ark-born deity, Dionusus. 1613 Decree in Law Rep. Com. Pl. V. 714 To place ark-nets and other engines in the said river. 1854 Woodward Man. Mollusca ii. 268 The Ark-shells of the Palæozoic and Secondary strata. 1851 Forbes in Art. Jrnl. Illus. Cat. Veg. W., An ark-full of living animals. 1853 Lynch Self-Improv. ii. 43 Christianity..is the ark-ship, the ark of safety. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 576 Quan he [Noah] dede him in ðe arche-wold. |
▪ II. † ark, v. Obs.
[f. prec.]
To shut up in an ark. Hence arked ppl. a.
| 1586 Warner Alb. Eng. i. i, Arked Noah, and seauen with him. a 1644 Quarles Judgem. & Mercy (1881) I. 128 Ark it up like Israel's manna. 1652 Benlowes Theoph. v. 63 From flood of Tears may an Arkt Dove try..to descry That land unknown to Nature, Vast Eternitie. |
▪ III. ark
obs. form of arc n., arch.