▪ I. dark, a.
(dɑːk)
Forms: 1–2 deorc, 3 dearc, derc, dorc, dorck, darc, darck, deork, durc, 3–6 derk, 4 deorke, durke, 4–6 derke, dirk(e, dyrk, 5 derck, dyrke, dork, 4–7 darke, 6 darck, dearcke, 6– dark.
[OE. deorc (repr. earlier *derk, with fracture of e before r + cons.); there is no corresponding adj. in the other Teutonic langs., but the OHG. wk. vb. tarchanjan, tarhnen, terchinen to conceal, hide, of which the WGer. form would be darknjan, appears to contain the same stem derk, dark. In ME. there is a notable variant therk(e, ðherke, thyrke, with the rare substitution of initial þ, th, for d, for which see therk.]
I. literal.
1. a. Characterized by (absolute or relative) absence of light; devoid of or deficient in light; unilluminated; said esp. of night.
| Beowulf 3584 Niht-helm ᵹeswearc deorc ofer dryhtgumum. c 1000 Ags. Ps. lxxiii[i]. 16 Þu dæᵹ settest and deorce niht. a 1225 Juliana 30 Dreihen hire into darc [v.r. dorc] hus. c 1275 Lay. 7563 Hit were dorcke niþt. c 1340 Cursor M. 16783 (Trin.) Þe day wex derker þen þe nyȝt. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xvi. xvii, Hit was soone derke soo that he myght knowe no man. 1548 Hall Chron. 113 A very darke night. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 275 The gate was closed, because it was at that time darke. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 354 Lizards shunning Light, a dark Retreat Have found. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 198 ¶10 The room was kept dark. 1861 F. Nightingale Nursing 24 People lose their health in a dark house. 1875 J. C. Wilcocks Sea Fisherman 190 They will bite when it is so pitchy dark that you cannot see to bait your hook. |
† b. A
dark house or
dark room was formerly considered a proper place of confinement for a madman; hence to
keep (a person) dark, to keep him confined in a dark room.
Obs.| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iv. 97 Both Man and Master is possest..They must be bound and laide in some darke roome. 1600 ― A.Y.L. iii. ii. 421 Loue is meerely a madnesse, and..deserues as wel a darke house, and a whip, as madmen do. 1601 ― All's Well iv. i. 106 Till then Ile keepe him darke and safely lockt. 1630 Massinger Renegado iv. i, He..charged me To keep him [a madman] dark, and to admit no visitants. 1687 Jefferies in Magd. Coll. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) 61 This man ought to be kept in a dark room. Why do you suffer him without a guardian? |
c. Of luminous bodies: Dim; invisible.
dark moon = dark of the moon;
† dark star (see 1594).
| a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1106 Se steorra ætywde innon þæt suðwest he wæs litel ᵹeþuht and deorc. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 272 They..that be called Cloudy starres: and a lesser sorte yet named Darke starres. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. xxiii. (ed. 7) 328 Besides these, there be fourteene others [stars], whereof five be called cloudy, and the other darke, because they are not to be seene but of a very quick and sharpe sight. 1653 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 192 Two lanthorns..everie night in y⊇ dark moone be sett out at the High Crosse. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Dark moon, the interval between the old and the new moon. |
2. Of clouds, the sky, etc.: Reflecting or transmitting little light; gloomy from lack of light, sombre.
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. lxviii. [lxix.] 14 Ado me of deope deorces wæteres. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 441/365 Þat lodlokeste weder þat miȝhte beo..Swart and deork and grislich. c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1020 Þe derk dede see hit is demed euer more. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 152 A wedyr so dirk and so lowd, that men supposed the Cherch should falle. 1658 Willsford Natures Secrets 100 Cloudy and dark weather. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 159 ¶8 Those dark Clouds which cover the Ocean. 1870 C. F. Gordon-Cumming in Gd. Words 133/2 A deep valley, with dark hills on every side. |
3. a. Of the ordinary colour of an object: Approaching black in hue.
| 1382 Wyclif Lev. xiii. 6 If more derker were the lepre, and not waxed in the skynne..it is a scab. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 181 If þe colour of his bodi be derk ouþer blac. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. i. 41 And her haire were not somewhat darker than Helens. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc v. 27 Her dark hair floating on the morning gale. 1800 tr. Lagrange's Chem. II. 88 Two liquors, one of which has a dark and almost black colour. 1873 Act 36–7 Vict. c. 85 §3 Her name..shall be marked on her stern, on a dark ground in white or yellow letters. |
b. Of the complexion: The opposite of fair.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 1009 This ladie called was Beaute..Ne she was derk ne broun, but bright. 1784 Cook Third Voy. v. iii. (R.), Their complexion is rather darker than that of the Otaheiteans. 1870 Dickens E. Drood ii, Mr. Jasper is a dark man of some six-and-twenty. |
c. Prefixed, as a qualification, to adjectives of colour: Deep in shade, absorbing more light than it reflects; the opposite of
light. (Usually hyphened with the
adj. when the latter is used attributively.)
| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 909 The rede darke. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 11 On the dark green grass. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) IV. 148 Stem hollow..dark mouse or almost black below. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ii. xxv, The bound of dark-brown doe. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 223 The sheep..many are grey, some black, and a few of a peculiar dark buff colour. 1863 M. L. Whately Ragged Life Egypt xvii. 163 Clad in the ordinary dark-blue drapery. |
II. fig. 4. Characterized by absence of moral or spiritual light; evil, wicked; also, in a stronger sense, characterized by a turpitude or wickedness of sombre or unrelieved nature; foul, iniquitous, atrocious.
| a 1000 Satan 105 (Gr.) Feond seondon reðe, dimme, and deorce. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xi. 34 Ȝif þin eaᵹe..byð deorc eall þin lichama byð þystre. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xix. 21 Alle derke deuelles aren adradde to heren it [þe name of ihesus]. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 63 Semende of light they werke The dedes, whiche are inward derke. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 169 My faire name..To darke dishonours vse, thou shalt not haue. Ibid. v. ii. 96 Thou fond mad woman Wilt thou conceale this darke Conspiracy? 1663 J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 335 We shall find these consecrated weapons of infinite more force against the powers of the Dark Kingdom. 1732 Pope Ep. Bathurst 28 It [gold] serves what life requires, But, dreadful too, the dark Assassin hires. 1792 M. Wollstonecraft Rights Wom. v. 239 Sometimes displaying the light and sometimes the dark side of their character. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 166 Associated in the public mind with the darkest and meanest vices. 1852 C. M. Yonge Cameos II. xx. 216 A dark tragedy was preparing in the family of King Robert. |
5. a. Devoid of that which brightens or cheers; gloomy, cheerless, dismal, sad.
| a 1000 Wanderer 89 (Gr.) Se ðis deorce lif deope ᵹeond⁓þenceþ. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. v. 36 More darke & darke our woes. 1636 Heylin Sabbath ii. 141 Then the times were at the darkest. 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. i. (1841) II. 5 We don't see the house is the darker for it. 1818 Shelley Rosalind & Helen 171 So much of sympathy to borrow As soothed her own dark lot. 1849 Robertson Serm. Ser. i. iv. (1866) 76 To look on the dark side of things. 1888 Bryce Amer. Comm. II. xl. 90 The prospect for such an aspirant is a dark one. |
b. Of a person's disposition, etc.: Gloomy, sullen, sad.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. v. i. 87 The motions of his spirit are dull as night And his affections darke as Erebus. 1705 Addison Italy (J.), Men of dark tempers. 1735 Somerville Chase i. 200 If in dark sullen Mood The glouting Hound refuse his wonted Meal. 1862 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. (1865) III. ix. x. 178 Ah, ah, you are in low spirits, I see. We must dissipate that dark humour. |
c. Of the countenance: Clouded with anger or dislike, frowning.
| 1599 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 182 Adonis..with a heavy, dark, disliking eye..cries ‘Fie, no more of love!’ 1821 Shelley Epipsych. 62 Art thou not..A smile amid dark frowns? 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. iii. 14 The brow of the young man grew dark. |
6. a. Obscure in meaning, hard to understand.
| c 1320 Cast. Love 71 Þauh hit on Englisch be dim and derk. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 105 Men ben blyndid bi derke speche. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 279 His prophesie þat is so derk. 1495 Act 11 Hen. VII, c. 8 Which acte..is so obscure derke and diffuse that [etc.]. 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. ix. 1 The quene of rich Arabia..came..to proue Salomon with darke Sentences. 1559 Scot in Strype Ann. Ref. I. App. x. 30 This matter is..darke, and of great difficultie to be..playnlye discussed. 1626 Bacon Sylva §103 The Cause is dark, and hath not been rendred by any. 1687 R. L'Estrange Answ. Dissenter 44 He's a little Dark in this Paragraph; but the Change of One Word will make him..Clear. 1866 Argyll Reign Law vi. (1871) 299 These may seem far-fetched illustrations, and of slight value in so dark a subject. |
† b. Obscure in name or fame; little known or regarded.
Obs.| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. ix. 83 What demest þou..is þat a dirke þing and nat noble þat is suffisaunt reuerent and myȝty. 1551 Turner Herbal i. Prol. A iij a, I..darker in name, and farr vnder these men in knowledge. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. III. 1221/1 She hath made hir councell of poore, darke, beggerlie fellows. |
c. Obscure to ‘the mind's eye’, or to memory; indistinct, indiscernible.
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 760 If thou destroy them not in dark obscurity. 1610 ― Temp. i. ii. 50 What seest thou els In the dark-backward and Abisme of Time? a 1800 Cowper On Biogr. Brit. 8 Names ignoble, born to be forgot..dark oblivion soon absorbs them all. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. i, The verge of dark eternity. |
d. Phonetics. Of an
l sound: formed with the tip of the tongue against the teeth-ridge and the rest of the tongue placed as for the articulation of a back vowel. Of a vowel: articulated with the front of the tongue somewhat depressed and the back raised in the direction of the soft palate. Opp.
clear a. 13 b.
| 1899 W. Rippmann Elem. Phonetics 42 When the tongue is raised a little further back we obtain lower, darker sounds..; when it is raised a little further forward we obtain higher, clearer sounds. 1909 I. F. Williams Phonetics for Scottish Students x. 47 In forming l in English the tip of the tongue is raised to the teeth-ridge, and the part immediately behind the tip is somewhat hollowed. This hollowing makes the English l much darker than the French l, where the part behind the tip is arched. In Scottish the hollowing is much more considerable than in English, and the l still ‘darker’. 1918 [see clear a. 13 b]. 1942 Amer. Speech XVII. Suppl. 27 [α] seems often to be a somewhat ‘darker’ or more retracted sound than the normal American variety. 1953 English Studies XXXIV. 250 To express ‘vowel + glide’ and not a ‘dark’ flavour of the following consonants. 1958 A. Cartianu et al. Course Mod. Rumanian 22 English dark l in words like: middle, tell, almost does not exist in Rumanian. |
7. a. Hidden from view or knowledge; concealed, secret.
to keep dark: to keep secret (
colloq.).
| 1605 Shakes. Lear i. i. 37 We shal expresse our darker purpose..Know, that we haue diuided In three our Kingdome. 1681 Crowne Hen. VI, ii. 14 By your passions I read all your natures, Though you at other times can keep 'em dark. 1861 Dickens Gt. Expect. l, He hid himself..kept himself dark. 1888 J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge xxiii, She kept it dark about the young lady who was staying with her. |
b. Of a person: Secret; silent as to any matter; reticent, not open, that conceals his thoughts and designs.
| 1675 Otway Alcibiades ii. i, But use such secrecy as stolen Loves should have, Be dark as the hush'd silence of the grave. 1706 J. Logan in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. X. 145 He is exceedingly dark and hidden, and thoughts work in his mind deeply without communicating. 1738 Pope Epil Sat. ii. 131 And Lyttelton a dark, designing knave. 1846 Prescott Ferd. & Isab. I. ii. 125 The dark, ambiguous character of Ferdinand. 1885 Century Mag. XXX. 380/2 Of course, I'll keep as dark about it as possible. |
8. Of whom or which nothing is generally known; about whose powers, etc., the public are ‘in the dark’.
dark horse (
Racing slang), a horse about whose racing powers little is known; hence
fig. a candidate or competitor of whom little is known or heard, but who unexpectedly comes to the front. In
U.S. Politics, a person not named as a candidate before a convention, who unexpectedly receives the nomination, when the convention has failed to agree upon any of the leading candidates.
| 1831 Disraeli Yng. Duke v. (Farmer), A dark horse, which had never been thought of..rushed past the grand stand in sweeping triumph. 1860 Sat. Rev. IX. 593/1 A Headship..often given by the College conclaves to a man who has judiciously kept himself dark. 1865 Sketches from Camb. 36 (Hoppe) Every now and then a dark horse is heard of, who is supposed to have done wonders at some obscure small college. 1884 in Harper's Mag. Aug. 472/1 A simultaneous turning toward a ‘dark horse’. 1885 A. Beresford-Hope in Pall Mall G. 19 Mar. 10/1 Two millions of dark men..whose ignorance and stupidity could hardly be grasped. 1888 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 19 June 5/4 That a dark horse is likely to come out of such a complicated situation as this is most probable. 1891 N. Gould Double Event 8 When he won the Regimental Cup with Rioter, a dark horse he had specially reserved to discomfort them. 1893 Standard 17 Apr. 6/6 Irish Wake, a ‘dark’ son of Master Kildare. |
9. Not able to see; partially or totally blind; sightless.
Obs. exc. dial.| 1382 Wyclif Gen. xlviii. 10 The eyen forsothe of Yrael weren derke for greet eelde, and cleerli he myȝte not se. 14.. Stacyons of Rome 321 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 124, I may se now þat ere was derke. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 242 So farre foorth as my dimme and darke eyesight is able to pearce. 1658 Rowland Mouff. Theat. Ins. 1098 Some there are, that cure dark sights by reason of a Cataract. 1768 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 203/1 Mr. Bathom has been totally dark for seven years. 1806 Med. Jrnl. XV. 152 His other eye was nearly quite dark. 1875 Lanc. Gloss., Dark, blind. ‘Help him o'er th' road, poor lad, he's dark.’ |
10. Void of intellectual light, mentally or spiritually blind; unenlightened, uninformed, destitute of knowledge, ignorant.
See also
dark ages in 14 c.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. ii. 67 Of whiche men þe corage alwey..seekeþ þe souereyne goode of alle be it so þat it be wiþ a derke memorie. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge cclxxxviii. Balade i, To be examined by my rudenes all derke. a 1668 Denham (J.), The age wherein he liv'd was dark. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 22 What in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support. 1688 Shadwell Sqr. Alsatia iv, I am not so dark neither; I am sharp, sharp as a needle. 1774 Fletcher Hist. Ess. Wks. 1795 IV. 15 If you oppose his principles..he supposes that you are quite dark. 1837 J. H. Newman Proph. Office Ch. 184 Anglican divines will consider him still dark on certain other points of Scripture doctrine. |
¶ 11. Sometimes two or more
fig. senses are combined. as in
the Dark Continent = Africa. Freq. in
superl. as an epithet for Africa and hence applied (chiefly
joc. or ironically) to other places that are considered remote, uncivilized, etc.
| 1878 H. M. Stanley (title), Through the Dark Continent. 1890 ― (title), Through Darkest Africa. 1891 Booth (title), In Darkest England, and the way out. 1907 R. Dunn Shameless Diary of Explorer 68 He met the missionary in darkest Africa. 1915 L. Einstein Let. 14 Mar. in Holmes–Einstein Lett. (1964) ii. 110 We had an interesting enough journey through darkest Europe to reach here. 1958 Listener 4 Dec. 956/2 Television comes to darkest Surrey. 1959 G. D. Painter Marcel Proust I. xii. 206 The beautiful Marie Nordlinger..had arrived from darkest Manchester to study painting and sculpture in Paris. 1964 C. Willock Enormous Zoo i. 6 The Mitumbe hills..jagged, unfriendly and epitomizing darkest Africa. 1968 C. Cooper Thunder & Lightning Man ii. 27 They shunted him off to darkest Somerset. |
12. Of a theatre, etc.: closed.
| 1916 Variety 27 Oct. 12/1 The Star and Garter theatre, Hyde & Behman's local Columbia Circuit burlesque house, through being dark last week, when ‘The London Belles’ refused to accept the engagement, lost its share of the probable gross receipts. 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 30 Oct. 13/3 Last night the picture show was ‘dark’, and most of those people with families were spending the evening at home. 1953 Economist 28 Mar. 853/1 The owner or lessor of the theatre..is likely to cover his expenses..except in bad times when he has the burden of a ‘dark’ theatre. Ibid. 853/2 It could happen that as many as one-fifth of all the seats in the London theatres were not even on sale, because the theatres were dark. |
13. quasi-adv. In a dark manner, darkly.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. v. 39 Beauty..I see no more in you Then without Candle may goe darke to bed. 1821 J. Baillie Met. Leg., Ld. John xv, Then dark lower'd the baron's eye. 1865 Sketches from Camb. 36 A man may choose to run dark, and may astonish his friends in the final contest of the mathematical tripos. [Cf. dark horse in 8.] |
14. Comb. a. adverbial, as
dark-closed,
dark-embrowned,
dark-flowing,
dark-glancing,
dark-rolling,
dark-shut,
dark-working;
b. parasynthetic, as
dark-bosomed,
dark-browed,
dark-coloured,
dark-complexioned,
dark-eyed,
dark-faced,
dark-haired,
dark-hearted (hence
dark-heartedness),
dark-leaved,
dark-minded,
dark-skinned,
dark-stemmed,
dark-toned,
dark-veiled,
dark veined,
dark-visaged,
dark-winged, etc.
| 1594 Daniel Cleopatra Wks. (1718) 278 Thou [Nemesis] from *dark-clos'd Eternity..The World's Disorders dost descry. |
| 1726–46 Thomson Winter 813 Sables, of glossy black; and *dark-embrowned. |
| 1868 Ld. Houghton Select. 80 The *dark-flowing hours I breast in fear. |
| 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. lix, Match me those Houries..With Spain's *dark-glancing daughters. 1931 Blunden To Themis 22 Dark-glancing onward as he sings and guides. |
| a 1835 Mrs. Hemans Poems, Guerilla Leader's Vow, Through the *dark-rolling mists they shine. |
| 1853 Hickie tr. Aristoph. (1872) II. 603 O, *dark-shining dusk of night. |
| 1912 W. de la Mare Listeners 27 Laid in their *dark-shut graves. |
| 1859 Tennyson Lancelot & Elaine 337 The face before her lived, *Dark-splendid. |
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 99 *Darke working Sorcerers. |
| 1863 I. Williams Baptistery ii. xxvii, *Dark-bosom'd, glorious sea! |
| 1830 Tennyson Poems 87 *Darkbrowed sophist, come not anear. 1845 Mrs. Norton Child of Islands (1846) 188 Dark-browed and beautiful he stood. 1952 E. Pound Personae 271 Come not anear the darkbrowed sophist. |
| 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 369 Whether I shall put on..my *dark-coloured suit. |
| 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast x. 24 A delicate, *dark-complexioned young woman. |
| 1605 Shakes. Lear ii. i. 121 Out of season, thredding *darke ey'd night. 1814 Byron Corsair iii. xvii, And now he turned him to that dark'd-eyed slave. |
| 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers 171 They are royalty, *dark-faced royalty, showing the conscious whites of their eyes. |
| 1813 Scott Trierm. ii. xxvii, Slow the *dark-fringed eyelids fall. |
| 1833 J. S. Mill Let. 25 Nov. (1910) I. 77 *Dark-haired men with formidable moustaches. 1881 M. E. Herbert Edith 2 A bright, dark-haired young lady. |
| 1870 D. G. Rossetti Let. 15 Mar. (1965) II. 816 Where..the *dark-hearted golden sunflowers shine? |
| 1862 M. Hopkins Hawaii 367 In the time of our *dark-heartedness. |
| 1870 Bryant Homer I. ii. 61 Forty *dark-hulled Locrian Barks. |
| 1817 Keats Epistle to G. F. Mathew in Poems 55 Where the *dark-leav'd laburnum's drooping clusters Reflect athwart the stream their yellow lustres. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Plants V. 105 The Dark-leaved Sallow. |
| 1795 Southey Joan of Arc viii. 618 *Dark-minded man! |
| 1742 Young Nt. Th. ii. 344 Quite wingless our desire, In sense *dark-prison'd. |
| a 1600 Hooker Eccl. Pol. Pref. §3 The *dark-sighted man is directed by the cleere about things visible. 1701 Lond. Gaz. No. 3754/8 Missing..Elizabeth Benson..dark-brown Hair'd..a little dark sighted. |
| 1885 Mabel Collins Prettiest Woman ix, The *dark-skinned Russian women had made a hero of him. |
| 1934 Burlington Mag. Sept. 132/2 A fine relief in *dark-toned wood. 1935 C. Day Lewis Time to Dance 32 Over the dark-toned earth. |
| 1634 Milton Comus 129 Goddess of nocturnal sport, *Dark-veiled Cotytto. |
| 1613–39 I. Jones in Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) II. 50 Light-vein'd Marble..*dark-vein'd, ditto. |
| 1906 Daily Chron. 30 July 6/6 Another *dark-visaged countryman of Reid, a typical specimen of the black Celt. |
| 1925 E., O. & S. Sitwell Poor Young People 5 Where now a *dark-winged southern wind soft grieves. |
c. Specialized comb. or phrases:
dark ages (often with capital initials), (
a) a term sometimes applied to the period of the Middle Ages to mark the intellectual darkness characteristic of the time; often restricted to the early period of the Middle Ages, between the time of the fall of Rome and the appearance of vernacular written documents; (
b) (
freq. in
sing.) the period between the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the archaic age in Greece and other Aegean countries; (
c)
transf., a period of obscurantism or ignorance;
joc., an obscure or little regarded period before the present;
dark arches (moth), a British noctuid moth of the genus
Xylophasia (
cf. arch n. 7);
dark box (
Photogr.), a box totally excluding light, used for storing plates, etc.;
dark chamber,
† (
a) a camera obscura (
obs.); (
b)
Photogr. = dark-room;
† dark-closet, (see
quot.);
dark current Electr., the current that flows in a photoeletric device when there is no light (or any other radiation capable of causing a current) incident on the photosensitive region;
dark-field = dark-ground;
dark glasses, (
a) (see
quot. 1867); (
b) spectacles with darkly-tinted lenses;
dark-ground, applied
attrib. to denote a type of illumination used in microscopy in which direct light is prevented from reaching the eyepiece and the only light seen is that scattered by the object, which appears as bright against a dark background; hence in
transf. sense to denote any light-coloured matter on a dark background;
dark-house (see 1 b);
† dark light = dead-light 1;
dark night (of the soul) [
tr. Sp. noche oscura (
St. John of the Cross)], a period of spiritual aridity suffered by a mystic; also
transf.;
dark-room (
Photogr.), a room from which all actinic rays of light are excluded, used by photographers when dealing with their sensitized plates: see also 1 b;
dark slide (
Photogr.), the holder for the sensitized plate;
dark smoke (see
quot. 1954);
† dark tent, a camera obscura;
dark-well, an arrangement in a microscope for forming a dark background to a transparent object when illuminated from above.
| [1687 Burnet Trav. iii. 11 There is an infinite number of the Writers of the *darker Ages.] 1730 A. Gordon Maffei's Amphith. 398 A Theatre..called so in the dark Ages, when such Names were given at random. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. I. p. iv, In the dark ages of the world, when a man had rendered himself famous for wisdom or valour, his family..represented his character and person as sacred and supernatural. 1834 M. Edgeworth Helen iv. 46, I must go back..quite to the dark ages, the time when I knew nothing of my daughter's character but by the accidental lights which you afforded me. 1837 Hallam Hist. Lit. i. §5 Gregory I..the chief authority in the dark ages. 1857 Buckle Civiliz. I. ix. 558 During these, which are rightly called the Dark Ages, the clergy were supreme. 1860 C. M. Yonge Hopes & Fears I. x. 370 What was natural science with the one, was natural history with the other. One went deep in systems and classifications, and thrust Linnæus into the dark ages. 1871 Geo. Eliot Middlem. i. ii. 20 We must have Thought: else we shall be landed back in the dark ages. 1876 F. Kilvert Diary 4 May (1944) 308 It was built in the Dark Ages of fifty years ago and was simply hideous. 1887 Kipling Under Deodars (1889) 58 Centuries ago—in the Dark Ages, before I met you, dear. 1907 G. Murray Rise of Greek Epic ii. 29 There lies between the prehistoric palaces of Crete, Troy, or Mycenae, and the civilization which we know as Greek a Dark Age covering at least several centuries. 1915 W. Leaf Homer & Hist. i. 34 The answer to the question lies somewhere in what, following Professor Murray, I have called the Dark Ages, the three or four hundred years which precede the first glimmer of authentic history in the eighth century. 1935 (title) Map of Britain in the Dark Ages (Ordnance Survey) [p. 5] This map covers that portion of English and Welsh history which falls between the years 410 a.d. and 871 a.d. 1943 F. M. Stenton Anglo-Saxon Eng. viii. 267 No other king of the Dark Ages ever set himself, like Alfred, to explore whatever in the literature of Christian antiquity might explain the problems of fate and free will. 1950 H. L. Lorimer Homer & Monuments viii. 461 Even in the Dark Age there must have been some degree of communication, as the common features of proto-Geometric culture show. 1952 Childe & Simpson Anc. Monuments Scotland 6 The ‘Dark Ages’... Approximately fifth–eleventh centuries a.d. 1953 K. H. Jackson Lang. & Hist. Early Brit. 377 Dark-Age Latin. 1957 G. E. Wright Bibl. Archaeol. iv. 56/2 Shortly before 1700 b.c. a dark age settled over Egypt which was to last some one hundred and fifty years. This was caused by the invasion of Asiatics whom the Egyptians called Hyksos. |
| 1832 J. Rennie Consp. Butterfl. & Moths 65 The *Dark Arches..appears the end of June and beginning of July. 1921 Dark Arches [see arch n. 7]. 1951 Colyer & Hammond Flies Brit. Isles xxi. 267 L[arvaevora] ferox..has been bred from the Dark Arches Moth. 1958 W. J. Stokoe Caterp. Moths (ed. 2) I. 255 The Dark Arches, sub-family Agrotinae, Apamea monoglypha, occurring in all parts of the British Isles... It is very variable in its general colouring. |
| 1887 Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. 11 Nov. 713/2 Wind them on to rollers to be put into journal bearings in a *dark box. |
| 1860 C. M. Yonge Hopes & Fears II. iv. 66 ‘Where is she?’ ‘In the *dark chamber, doing a positive of the cathedral.’ |
| 1726 Leoni Designs 3 b, Ward-robes or Cup-boards, which by a new name in the Art are called *Dark-closets. |
| 1914 Astrophysical Jrnl. XXXIX. 438 Two spurious currents..are found in the photo-electric cell... The second is what has been called a ‘*dark current’, in the same direction as the light current. 1963 B. Fozard Instrumentation Nucl. Reactors vi. 67 Dark current is the current flowing in the cathode, or in the complete multiplier tube, with no illumination of the cathode. Dark current is due mainly to thermionic emission of electrons from the cathode and the early-stage dynodes. |
| 1865 R. Beck Achromatic Microscope 34 In every kind of ‘*dark-field illumination’ the light comes upon the object from below, but at such an oblique angle as never to enter the object-glass direct. 1966 D. G. Brandon Mod. Techniques Metallogr. 16 Features that can be observed by dark field illumination are always faintly visible by direct illumination... The same is not true of transparent biological specimens. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Dark glasses, shades fitted to instruments of reflection for preventing the bright rays of the sun from hurting the eye of the observer. 1927 Hemingway Men without Women (1928) 187 We were both tired of the sun... You could not sit outside the hut without dark glasses. 1965 R. Erskine Passion Flowers in Business v. 58 One would see later if dark glasses in the office would be a good thing. |
| 1860 Q. Jrnl. Microscopical Sci. VIII. 207 (heading) On a *dark-ground illuminator. 1949 H. C. Weston Sight, Light & Efficiency iv. 142 A well-known ophthalmologist recommended dark-ground reading matter for the use of partially-sighted children. 1965 W. J. Garnett Freshwater Microscopy (ed. 2) iii. 55 For the observation of microscopic freshwater life..much more can be achieved by the use of dark-ground illumination. Ibid., It is important with all dark-ground work to use a strong source of light. |
| 1683 Robin Conscience 278 in Songs Lond. Prent. (Percy) 80 But, when the shop-folk me did spy, They drew their *dark light instantly. 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 452 We..caulked the dark-lights. |
| 1864 D. Lewis tr. St. John of the Cross's Wks. I. 3 The *dark night, through which the soul passes, on its way to the Divine Light. Ibid. 57 Faith, the dark night of the soul. 1913 C. Mackenzie Sinister St. I. ii. xv. 409 An Half-hour with St. John of the Cross made him ask himself whether this were the dark night of the soul through which he was passing. 1927 J. S. Huxley Relig. without Rev. iv. 124 The sense of being forsaken... Mystics have called it ‘the dark night of the soul’, and describe it as an abandonment of the soul by God. 1951 G. Greene End of Affair ii. i. 52 What do I know of phrases like ‘the dark night’ or of prayer? 1970 Guardian 22 Dec. 2/4 Governor Nelson Rockefeller..has emerged from the dark night of the soul that afflicts all politicians pondering the supreme sacrifice. |
| 1841 Specif. Claudet's Patent No. 9193. 3 [Red light] allows the operator to see how to perform the work without being obliged..to remain in a *dark room. 1852 Specif. Newton's Patent No. 179 Apparatus for taking photographic pictures without the use of a dark room. 1883 W. K. Burton Mod. Photogr. (1892) 21 To purchase a ‘dark-room lamp’ from a photographic apparatus dealer. |
| 1887 Brit. Jrnl. Photogr. 11 Nov. 717/1 Professor Stebbing exhibited a metal *dark slide. |
| 1954 Beaver Committee Rep. (Cmd. 9322), New legislation should prohibit the emission of *dark smoke..from any chimney... By ‘dark smoke’ we mean smoke of density equivalent to, or greater than, shade 2 on the Ringelmann Chart. 1958 Times 31 May 3/7 The Clean Air Act 1956 will be fully in force to-morrow, and it will be an offence punishable by fine to emit dark smoke from any chimney in England and Wales. |
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), *Dark Tent, a Box made almost like a Desk, with Optick Glasses, to take the Prospect of any Building, Fortification, Landskip, etc. |
| 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 83 The use of a set of *dark-wells. |
d. Physics.
dark lines = absorption lines (
absorption 6); so
dark-line attrib. or as
adj.;
dark space, one or other of two non-luminous regions (the
cathode or
Crookes or
first dark space and the
Faraday or
second dark space) in a vacuum tube traversed by an electric discharge; also
dark discharge.
| 1802 W. H. Wollaston in Phil. Trans. ii. 378 C, the limit of green and blue, is not so clearly marked as the rest; and there are also, on each side of this limit, other distinct dark lines. 1838 M. Faraday in Phil. Trans. i. 138 A purple stream..appeared on the end of the positive rod,..but never joining the negative glow, there being always a short dark space between. Ibid. 139 The dark discharge through air..leads to the inquiry, whether the particles of air are..capable of effecting discharge from one to another without becoming luminous. 1878 Encycl. Brit. VIII. 64/1 The dark spaces that sometimes appear in the spark in gas at the atmospheric pressure. Ibid., When the discharge takes place in highly rarefied gas, a dark space of this kind almost always separates the positive from the negative light. Ibid., Pending further investigation, Faraday called it the dark discharge. 1879 Ibid. IX. 728/1 The dark lines of the spectrum of sunlight. 1895 S. P. Thompson Elem. Less. Electr. & Magn. (ed. 2) ii. iv. 307 The kathode exhibits a beautiful bluish or violet glow, separated from the conductor by a narrow dark space. 1920 Dark space [see cathode dark space s.v. cathode c]. 1928 W. M. Smart Sun, Stars & Universe vi. 83 Certain groups of lines which are known to belong to the arc spectra of the elements concerned..together with their dark-line counterparts in the solar spectrum. 1958 [see Faraday dark space]. |
Add:
[14.] [c.] dark matter Astron., (
a) (now
rare) non-luminous matter; (
b)
spec. matter which has not been directly detected but whose existence is postulated to account for the dynamical behaviour of galaxies or the universe;
cf. cold dark matter s.v. *
cold a. 19,
hot dark matter s.v. *
hot a. (
n.1)
| 1922 Astrophysical Jrnl. LV. 314 Suppose that in a volume of space containing l luminous stars there be *dark matter with an aggregate mass equal to Kl average luminous stars. Ibid., The means of estimating the mass of dark matter in the universe. 1950 Irish Astron. Jrnl. I. 8 At Alpha Scorpii the belt suddenly ceases... The stream has been blacked-out by nearby dark matter. 1954 Ibid. III. 61 By reason of the inevitable encounters with galaxies and clusters of galaxies..some dark matter will be dislodged into outer space. 1979 Ann. Rev. Astrophysics XVII. 165 The binary data seem to imply the existence of dark matter. 1989 J. Silk Big Bang (rev. ed.) viii. 154 We expect that most plausible candidates for the dark-matter particles will eventually annihilate. 1993 Time 18 Jan. 48/1 The dark matter could be made up of giant planets, failed stars, black holes, clouds of unknown particles, or even, so far as the laws of physics are concerned, bowling balls. |
▸
dark energy n. Astron. a form of energy with largely unknown properties which in some cosmological models is postulated to act in opposition to gravitation and to occupy the entire universe, accounting for most of the energy in it and causing its expansion to accelerate.
| [1992H. M. Hodges in Physical Rev. D 45 113 The similarity between the baryonic and dark-matter energy densities might naturally be explained if shadow baryons account for the missing mass.] 1998M. S. Turner in H. Sato & N. Sugiyama Black Holes & High Energy Astrophysics 87 If inflation + cold dark matter is correct, then there are new, fundamental questions to be answered, most notably the nature of the *dark energy that seems to account for 60% of the critical density. 2002 N.Y. Times 1 Jan. d1/4 Astronomers have reported evidence that the expansion of the universe is not just continuing but is speeding up, under the influence of a mysterious ‘dark energy’, an antigravity that seems to be embedded in space itself. |
▸
darknet n. Computing a covert channel on the Internet used by a restricted group to communicate and share files; (also) those areas of the Internet used for illegal sharing of copyrighted digital material via peer-to-peer systems, considered collectively.
| 1995Kiss Internet Good-bye in wash.general (Usenet newsgroup) 18 Dec. I think the solution is to create ‘*Dark net’; a secret internet service similar to that which existed at the beginning of the internet, when computers would call each other and exchange emails and usenet post. 2002 Observer 1 Dec. (Business section) 9/8 If you are competing with the darknet, you must compete on the darknet's own terms: convenience and low cost rather than additional security. 2005 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 5 Oct. e2/1 These are ‘darknets’: exclusive peer-to-peer networks in which membership is based on circles of trust, whose activities are veiled from the general public. |
▪ II. dark, n. (
dɑːk)
Forms: 4–5
derk(e, 5
dirk, 6
darcke, 6–7
darke, 6–
dark.
[f. dark a.: cf. the analogy of light n. and adj.] 1. a. Absence of light; dark state or condition; darkness,
esp. that of night.
dark of the moon: the time near new moon when there is no moonlight:
cf. dark moon s.v. dark a. 1 c.
| a 1300 K. Horn 1431 He ladde hure bi þe derke Into his nywe werke. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 1906 To seke crist in the derke with Lanternes and with fire brandes. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 160 Gropyng in the darcke. 1598 Rowlands Betraying of Christ Wks. 54 The Sunne was hid, nights darke approcht apace. 1626 Bacon Sylva §276 If you come suddenly..out of the Dark into a Glaring Light, the eye is dazeled for a time. 1651 Hartlib's Legacy (1655)160 Gardiners and Husbandmen..talking of the dark of the Moon. 1760 C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) III. 116 He dares not to sleep by himself or be a moment alone in the dark. 1801 tr. C. F. Damberger's Trav. Africa 122 If a boy is born..in the dark of the moon. 1830 Tennyson Ode to Memory iv, To dimple in the dark of rushy coves. 1871 E. Eggleston Hoosier Schoolm. (1872) x. 87 But it must be rendered in the dark of the moon. 1889 Farmer Americanisms 193 Dark Moon or Dark of the Moon, the period between the moon's change from ‘full’ to ‘new’. Also provincial in England. 1945 T. Williams Battle of Angels ii. i. 41 In the dark of the moon, beside a broken fence rail in some big rolling meadow. |
b. The dark time; night; nightfall.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 1079 The derke was done & the day sprange. a 1400–50 Alexander 4773 It droȝe to þe derke. 1718 Lady M. W. Montague Lett. lii. II. 73 Before we got to the foot of the mountain, which was not till after dark. 1771 E. Long Trial of Dog ‘Porter’, One evening after dark. 1833 H. Martineau Tale of Tyne i. 3 He quitted the keel..just at dark. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. I. 93 While day and dark, and dark and day went by. |
c. A dark place: a place of darkness.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 2361 So I wilt in the wod..Till I drogh to a derke, and the dere lost. 1587 Mirr. Mag., Elstride ix, Like as you see in darkes, if light appeare Strayght way to that ech man directs his eye. 1706 De Foe Jure Div. i. 8 Above the Skyes they fix'd his blest abode, And from the Darks of Hell fetch'd up the God. 1883 S. Lanier Eng. Novel 47 (Cent. Dict.) Those small darks which are enclosed by caves and crumbling dungeons. |
2. fig. (
a leap in the dark: see
leap.)
| c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 609 To derke is turned all my lighte. a 1541 Wyatt Penit. Psalms li. The Author iv, Light of Grace that dark of sin did hide. |
3. a. Dark colour or shade;
spec. in
Art. a part of a picture in shadow, as opposed to a
light.
| 1675 A. Browne Ars Pict. 90 Ever place light against dark, and dark against light. 1715 J. Richardson Th. Painting 112 A Picture sometimes consists of a Mass of Light..sometimes..of a Mass of Dark at the bottom, another Lighter above that. 1821 Craig Lect. Drawing iii. 153 A light is made brighter by being opposed to a dark. 1855 M. Arnold Poems, Mycerinus 119 The palm-tree plumes that roof'd With their mild dark his grassy banquet hall. 1860 Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. ix. viii. 287 His lights are not the spots, but his darks. |
b. fig. A dark spot, a blot.
| 1637 Shirley Lady of Pleas. i. i, Had not the poet been bribed to a modest Expression of your antic gambols in't, Some darks had been discovered. |
4. a. The condition of being hidden from view, obscure, or unknown; obscurity.
in the dark: in concealment or secrecy.
| 1628 Feltham Resolves i. xlii. 127 Vice..ever thinks in this darke, to hide her abhorred foulnesse. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §4, I am in the dark to all the world, and my nearest friends behold me but in a cloud. a 1732 Atterbury (J.), All he says of himself is, that he is an obscure person; one, I suppose..that is in the dark. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. III. xcvi. 342 note, Such legislation..is usually procured in the dark and by questionable means. |
† b. Obscurity of meaning.
Obs.| 1699 Bentley Phal. 175 The Threat had something of dark in it. |
5. in the dark: in a state of ignorance; without knowledge as regards some particular fact.
| 1677 W. Hubbard Narrative ii. 47 As to what hapned afterward, we are yet much in the dark. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xxiii. §28 If here again we enquire how this is done, we are equally in the dark. 1782 Cowper Mutual Forbearance 9 Sir Humphrey, shooting in the dark, Makes answer quite beside the mark. 1791 Burke Corr. (1844) III. 185, I am entirely in the dark about the designs..of the powers of Europe. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xix. 165, I hope you will no longer keep me in the dark. 1876 Gladstone in Contemp. Rev., June 2 We seem to be..in the dark on these..questions. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. dark adaptation, self-adjustment of the eye to reduced intensity of light by means of an increase in the sensitivity of the retina;
dark-adapted in
pass. and as ppl. a., of an eye in which there is dark adaptation.
| 1909 E. B. Titchener Text-Bk. Psychol. I. xviii. 74 The immediate after-effect of general adaptation is always this contrary trend of vision:..if dark-adapted, [you are] now light-sighted. 1909 Ibid. xix. 80 When dark-adaptation has gone a certain distance. 1920 Dark adaptation [see adaptation 2 b]. 1922 R. S. Woodworth Psychol. x. 225 Go into a dark room, and at first all seems black, but by degrees—provided there is a little light filtering into the room—you begin to see, for your retina is becoming dark-adapted. 1934 H. C. Warren Dict. Psychol. 68/2 Dark-adapted eye, an eye whose condition has been so modified by the withdrawal of general light stimulation that faint stimuli have become more effective. 1935 Discovery May 138/1 This increased sensitiveness of the retina is called Dark-Adaptation. 1946 Nature 31 Aug. 303/2 Perhaps it will be possible to find somebody who has more visual purple in the dark-adapted state. 1963 C. D. Simak They walked like Men ii. 11 By now my eyes had become somewhat dark-adapted and I could make out the formless shape of furniture. |
▪ III. dark, v. arch. or
dial. (
dɑːk)
Forms: 4
durk, 4–6
derke, 4–7
darke, 5–6
dirke, 6
dirk, 6–
dark.
[f. dark a.] † 1. intr. To become dark;
= darken 1. Of the sun or moon: To suffer eclipse.
Obs.| [c 1050 Suppl. ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 175 Crepusculum, tweoneleoht, uel deorcung.] c 1340 Cursor M. 16749 (Trin.) Fro þenne hit derked til þe mone: ouer al the world wide. 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. vi, The euening begon for to dirke. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 211 In the same yere the mone derked thre tymes. a 1529 Skelton Col. Cloute 196 When the nyght darkes. 1596 H. Clapham Briefe Bible ii. 172 Sun darks, Starres fall, the Moone doth change her hue. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. viii. 7 With the vaile and darking of the Sunne. |
| fig. 1400 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 236 Vnder sleuþe darkit þe loue of holinesse. |
† 2. trans. To make dark;
= darken 6.
Obs.| c 1300 Beket 1417 Overcast heo is with the clouden..Whar thurf the churchen of Engelonde idurked beoth echon. 1382 Wyclif 1 Kings xviii. 45 Heuenes ben derkid. c 1477 Caxton Jason 29 b, The ayer was derked and obscured with the quarels and arowes and stones. c 1500 Not-Browne Mayd 32 My somers day in lusty may is derked before the none. 1530 Palsgr. 506/2 What thyng hath darked this house..me thynke they have closed up dyvers wyndowes. 1634 Milton Comus 730 The winged air darked with plumes. 1715 Ramsay Eclipse of Sun ii, No cloud may hover in the air, To dark the medium. |
b. To cloud, dim, obscure, hide (something luminous).
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. II. 406 Þe sunne mai be derkkid heter bi fumes þat shal cleer þe erþe. c 1489 Caxton Blanchardyn xx. 62 That derked the lyght of the sonne. 1557 Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 269 The golden sunne doth darke ech starre. 1592 Constable Sonn. iii. viii, The shadie woods seeme now my sunne to darke. 18.. Mrs. Browning Soul's Trav. 112 Though we wear no visor down To dark our countenance. 1850 ― Poems II. 5 The uplands will not let it stay To dark the western sun. |
† 3. To darken in shade or colour.
Obs.| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. i. 5 The wiche cloþes a derkenes of a forleten and dispised elde had duskid and dirkid. 1573 Art of Limning 5 Orpyment may be..darked with Oker de Luke. |
† 4. To darken (the eyes or vision); to blind.
lit. and
fig. Obs.| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. i. 7, I of whom þe syȝt plonged in teres was derked. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xxxviii, In many þe eye of intencion is dirked. 1508 Fisher Wks. (1876) 305 Her syght should haue be derked. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 10 b, He wyll blynde thy reason & derke thy conscyence. 1653 T. Whitfield Treat. Sinf. Men ix. 40 The Sun..darkes weake eyes. |
† b. intr. To be or become blind.
Obs.| a 1440 Wyclif 1 Sam. iv. 15 [MS. Bodl. 277] Heli..hise iȝen derkeden [v.r. dasweden], and he myȝte not se. |
5. fig. To obscure, eclipse, cloud, dim, sully.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. i. iv. 20 Þe wiche dignite, for þei wolde derken it wiþ medelyng of some felonye. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas i. iv. (1544) 6 b, Process of yeres..hath..Derked their renoune by forgetfulnes. 1559 Bp. Cox in Strype Ann. Ref. I. vi. 100 And shortly [shall] Christ Jesus be utterly forgotten, and darked as much..as in the time of Papistry. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Feb. 134 Thy wast bignes but cumbers the ground, And dirks the beauty of my blossomes rownd. 1608 Shakes. Per. iv. Prol. 35 Marina gets all praises..This..darks In Philoten all graceful marks. 1647 H. More Song of Soul Ded. 4 Nor can ever that thick cloud..dark the remembrance of your pristine Lustre. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xviii, One woman is enough to dark the fairest plot that ever was planned. |
† 6. intr. To lie in the dark, to lie hid or unseen.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 25444 (Cott.) In hope i durk and dare. c 1350 Will. Palerne 17 Þe child þan darked in his den dernly him one. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clii. (1495) 704 Abowte hegges lurkyth and derkyth venemouse wormes. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13285 Folis..þat heron the melody [of the Sirens]..derkon euon down on a depe slomur. 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 218 Darkyng in kavys and gravys. |
7. intr. To listen privily and insidiously.
dial.| 1781 J. Hutton Tour Caves Gloss., To dark for betts, to hearken silently which side the opinion is of. 1825 J. T. Brockett N. Country Wds., Dark, to listen with an insidious attention. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Dark, to listen, to pry into. ‘They dark and gep for all they can catch.’ [Also in Glossaries of Holderness, Mid-Yorks., Cumbrld., Lonsdale.] |
Hence
darked ppl. a.,
darking vbl. n.| c 1050 [see 1]. c 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy Prol., Dyrked age. a 1541 Wyatt Compl. Absence of his Love, My darked pangs of cloudy thoughts. |