DARK

dark

(adjective) not giving performances; closed; “the theater is dark on Mondays”

dark

(adjective) brunet (used of hair or skin or eyes); “dark eyes”

dark

(adjective) devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black; “sitting in a dark corner”; “a dark day”; “dark shadows”; “dark as the inside of a black cat”

blue, dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, gloomy, grim, sorry, drab, drear, dreary

(adjective) causing dejection; “a blue day”; “the dark days of the war”; “a week of rainy depressing weather”; “a disconsolate winter landscape”; “the first dismal dispiriting days of November”; “a dark gloomy day”; “grim rainy weather”

dark

(adjective) (used of color) having a dark hue; “dark green”; “dark glasses”; “dark colors like wine red or navy blue”

dark, obscure

(adjective) marked by difficulty of style or expression; “much that was dark is now quite clear to me”; “those who do not appreciate Kafka’s work say his style is obscure”

benighted, dark

(adjective) lacking enlightenment or knowledge or culture; “this benighted country”; “benighted ages of barbarism and superstition”; “the dark ages”; “a dark age in the history of education”

black, dark, sinister

(adjective) stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable; “black deeds”; “a black lie”; “his black heart has concocted yet another black deed”; “Darth Vader of the dark side”; “a dark purpose”; “dark undercurrents of ethnic hostility”; “the scheme of some sinister intelligence bent on punishing him”-Thomas Hardy

dark, dour, glowering, glum, moody, morose, saturnine, sour, sullen

(adjective) showing a brooding ill humor; “a dark scowl”; “the proverbially dour New England Puritan”; “a glum, hopeless shrug”; “he sat in moody silence”; “a morose and unsociable manner”; “a saturnine, almost misanthropic young genius”- Bruce Bliven; “a sour temper”; “a sullen crowd”

dark

(adjective) secret; “keep it dark”

dark, darkness

(noun) an unenlightened state; “he was in the dark concerning their intentions”; “his lectures dispelled the darkness”

darkness, dark, shadow

(noun) an unilluminated area; “he moved off into the darkness”

dark, darkness

(noun) absence of light or illumination

wickedness, darkness, dark

(noun) absence of moral or spiritual values; “the powers of darkness”

night, nighttime, dark

(noun) the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Adjective

dark (comparative darker, superlative darkest)

Having an absolute or (more often) relative lack of light.

(of a source of light) Extinguished.

Deprived of sight; blind.

(of colour) Dull or deeper in hue; not bright or light.

Hidden, secret, obscure.

Not clear to the understanding; not easily through; obscure; mysterious; hidden.

(betting, of race horses) Having racing capability not widely known.

Without moral or spiritual light; sinister, malign.

Conducive to hopelessness; depressing or bleak.

Lacking progress in science or the arts; said of a time period.

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.

Synonyms

• (relative lack of light): dim, gloomy, see also dark

• (sinister or secret): hidden, secret, sinister, see also hidden

• (without morals): malign, sinister, see also evil

• (of colour): deep, see also dark colour

• (conducive to hopelessness): hopeless, negative, pessimistic

• (lacking progress): unenlightened

Antonyms

• (relative lack of light): bright, light, lit

• (of colour): bright, light, pale

Etymology 2

Noun

dark (usually uncountable, plural darks)

A complete or (more often) partial absence of light.

(uncountable) Ignorance.

(uncountable) Nightfall.

A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, etc.

Synonyms

• (absence of light): darkness

• (ignorance): cluelessness, knowledgelessness, unawareness

• (nightfall): crepusculum, evenfall, mirkning; see also dusk

Etymology 3

Verb

dark (third-person singular simple present darks, present participle darking, simple past and past participle darked)

(intransitive) To grow or become dark, darken.

(intransitive) To remain in the dark, lurk, lie hidden or concealed.

(transitive) To make dark, darken; to obscure.

Anagrams

• k-rad

Proper noun

Dark (plural Darks)

A surname.

Statistics

• According to the 2010 United States Census, Dark is the 12399th most common surname in the United States, belonging to 2507 individuals. Dark is most common among White (63.66%), Black/African American (20.02%), and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.57%) individuals.

Anagrams

• k-rad

Source: Wiktionary


Dark, a. Etym: [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, Irrecoverable 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 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 Shak.

3. Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant. The age wherin he lived was dark, but he Cobld not want light who taught the world oto see. Denhan. The tenth century used to be reckoned by mediæval historians as the darkest part of this intellectual night. Hallam.

4. Evincing blaxk 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. Shak. 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.

Note: 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, n.

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. Shak.

2. The condition of ignorance; gloom; secrecy. Look, what you do, you do it still i' th' dark. Shak. Till we perceive by our own understandings, we are as mucdark, and as void of knowledge, as before. Locke.

3. (Fine Arts)

Definition: 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, v. t.

Definition: To darken to obscure. [Obs.] Milton.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Coffee Trivia

The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.

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