Part 2753

<h1>Dark</h1> <Xpage=367>

<hw>Dark</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>a.</tt> <ety>[OE. <ets>dark</ets>, <ets>derk</ets>, <ets>deork</ets>, AS. <ets>dearc</ets>, <ets>deorc</ets>; cf. Gael. & Ir. <ets>dorch</ets>, <ets>dorcha</ets>, dark, black, dusky.]</ety> <p><b>1.</b> <def>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>as, a <ex>dark</ex> room; a <ex>dark</ex> day; <ex>dark</ex> cloth; <ex>dark</ex> paint; a <ex>dark</ex> complexion.</as></def>

<blockquote>O <b>dark</b>, <b>dark</b>, <b>dark</b>, amid the blaze of noon, Irrecoverable <b>dark</b>, total eclipse Without all hope of day! <i>milton.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>In the <b>dark</b> and silent grave. <i>Sir W. Raleigh.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>Not clear to the understanding; not easily <?/ through; obscure; mysterious; hidden.</def>

<blockquote>The <b>dark</b> problems of existence. <i>Shairp.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>What may seem <b>dark</b> at the first, will afterward be found more plain. <i>Hooker.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>What's your <b>dark</b> meaning, mouse, of this light word? <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <def>Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant.</def>

<blockquote>The age wherin he lived was <b>dark</b>, but he Cobld not want light who taught the world oto see. <i>Denhan.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>The tenth century used to be reckoned by medi\'91val historians as the <b>darkest</b> part of this intellectual night. <i>Hallam.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>4.</b> <def>Evincing blaxk or foul traits of character; vile; wicked; atrocious; <as>as, a <ex>dark</ex> villain; a <ex>dark</ex> deed.</as></def>

<blockquote>Left him at large to his own <b>dark</b> designs. <i>Milton.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>5.</b> <def>Foreboding evil; gloomy; jealous; suspicious.</def>

<blockquote>More <b>dark</b> and <b>dark</b> our woes. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>A deep melancholy took possesion of him, and gave a <b>dark</b> tinge to all his views of human nature. <i>Macaulay.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>There is, in every true woman-s heart, a spark of heavenly fire, which beams and blazes in the <b>dark</b> hour of adversity. <i>W. Irving.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>6.</b> <def>Deprived of sight; blind.</def> <mark>[Obs.]</mark>

<blockquote>He was, I think, at this time quite <b>dark</b>, and so had been for some years. <i>Evelyn.</i></blockquote>

<note>&hand; <i>Dark</i> is sometimes used to qualify another adjective; <as>as, <ex>dark</ex> blue, <ex>dark</ex> green, and sometimes it forms the first part of a compound; as, <ex>dark</ex>-haired, <ex>dark</ex>-eyed, <ex>dark</ex>-colored, <ex>dark</ex>-seated, <ex>dark</ex>-working.</as></note>

<cs><col>A dark horse</col>, <cd>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</cd>. <mark>[Colloq.]</mark> -- <mcol><col>Dark house</col>, <col>Dark room</col></mcol>, <cd>a house or room in which madmen were confined. <mark>[Obs.]</mark> <i>Shak</i>.</cd> -- <col>Dark lantern</col>. <cd>See <er>Lantern</er>.</cd> -- The <col>Dark Ages</col>, <cd>a period of stagnation and obscurity in literature and art, lasting, according to Hallam, nearly 1000 years, from about 500 to about 1500 <sc>A. D.</sc>. See <cref>Middle Ages</cref>, under <er>Middle</er>.</cd> -- <col>The Dark and Bloody Ground</col>, <cd>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.</cd> -- <col>The dark day</col>, <cd>a day (May 19, 1780) when a remarkable and unexplained darkness extended over all New England.</cd> -- <col>To keep dark</col>, <cd>to reveal nothing.</cd> <mark></mark></cs>

<h1>Dark</h1> <Xpage=367>

<hw>Dark</hw> <tt>(?)</tt>, <tt>n.</tt> <p><b>1.</b> <def>Absence of light; darkness; obscurity; a place where there is little or no light.</def>

<blockquote>Here stood he in the <b>dark</b>, his sharp sword out. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>2.</b> <def>The condition of ignorance; gloom; secrecy.</def>

<blockquote>Look, what you do, you do it still i' th' <b>dark</b>. <i>Shak.</i></blockquote>

<blockquote>Till we perceive by our own understandings, we are as muc<?/ in the <b>dark</b>, and as void of knowledge, as before. <i>Locke.</i></blockquote>

<p><b>3.</b> <fld>(Fine Arts)</fld> <def>A dark shade or dark passage in a painting, engraving, or the like; <as>as, the light and <ex>darks</ex> are well contrasted</as></def>.