# darken
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English derkenen, dirkenen, from Old English *deorcnian, *diercnian (“to darken”), from Proto-West Germanic *dirkinōn (“to darken”), equivalent to dark +‎ -en.
Cognate with Scots derken, durken (“to darken”), Old High German tarchanjan, terchinen (“to darken”), Middle High German terken, derken (“to darken”).

### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /ˈdɑɹkən/
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈdɑːkən/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)kən

### Verb

darken (third-person singular simple present darkens, present participle darkening, simple past and past participle darkened)
* (transitive) To make dark or darker by reducing light.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 10:15:[…] they [locusts] covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened […]
** 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 56-58:So spake the Sovran voice, and Clouds began To darken all the Hill […]
* (intransitive) To become dark or darker (having less light).
** 1783, William Blake, “The Couch of Death”, in Richard Herne Shepherd, editor, Poetical Sketches‎, London: Basil Montagu Pickering, published 1868, page 84:[…] the owl and the bat flew round the darkening trees:
** 1930, Zane Grey, “Chapter Twelve”, in The Shepherd of Guadeloupe‎:[…] leaning at her window she watched the end of that eventful day darken over the ranges.
* (impersonal) To get dark (referring to the sky, either in the evening or as a result of cloud).
** 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XV, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 289:Well, I must go in now; and you too: it darkens.
** 1901, William Stearns Davis, “Chapter 4”, in A Friend of Cæsar‎, New York: Macmillan, page 57:Then they passed out from the Forum, forced their way through the crowded streets, and soon were through the Porta Ratumena, outside the walls, and struck out across the Campus Martius, upon the Via Flaminia. It was rapidly darkening.
** 1945, Gertrude Stein, Wars I Have Seen‎, London: B.T. Batsford, page 13:From babyhood until fourteen, to play in a garden in the evening when it is darkening is a legend.
** 1996, Colm Tóibín, “Portrait of the Artist as a Spring Lamb”, in The Kilfenora Teaboy: A Study of Paul Durcan‎, Dublin: New Island Books, page 7:It had been fine all morning, but it was darkening now, the weather was going to get worse.
** 2005, David Almond, chapter 10, in Clay‎, London: Hodder Literature, page 44:He looked up. It was darkening here as well. Sky getting red, the edge of the quarry dark and jagged against it.
* (transitive) To make dark or darker in colour.
** 2009, Alice Munro, “Free Radicals”, in Too Much Happiness, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, page 118:She puts on lipstick and darkens her eyebrows, which are now very scanty […]
* (intransitive) To become dark or darker in colour.
** 1979, Mary Stewart, The Last Enchantment‎, New York: Fawcett Crest, Book 4, Chapter 4, p. 405:The lovely hair had lost its rose-gold glimmer, and had darkened to rose-brown […]
* (transitive) To render gloomy, darker in mood.
** c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not The mirth o’ the feast.
** 1969, Chaim Potok, chapter 4, in The Promise‎, New York: Fawcett Crest, published 1872, page 89:It was a pleasure seeing you again. I’m only sorry I had to darken the pleasure with my private problems.
* (intransitive) To become gloomy, darker in mood.
** 1797, Ann Radcliffe, The Italian, London: T. Cadell Jun[ior] and W. Davies, Volume 2, Chapter 9, p. 303,
    His countenance darkened while he spoke […]
** 1942, Emily Carr, “Mrs. Crane”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC:Alice’s big eyes darkened with trouble.
* (transitive) To blind, impair the eyesight.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 9:10:Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see […]
** 1773, Samuel Johnson, letter to James Boswell dated 5 July, 1773, in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume I, London: Charles Dilly, p. 424,
    When your letter came to me, I was so darkened by an inflammation in my eye, that I could not for some time read it.
** 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto IV:Such clouds of nameless trouble cross ⁠All night below the darken’d eyes; ⁠With morning wakes the will, and cries, ‘Thou shalt not be the fool of loss.’
* (intransitive) To be blinded, lose one’s eyesight.
* (transitive) To cloud, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or intelligible.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 38:2:Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
** 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:[…] such was his wisdome, as his Confidence did seldome darken his Fore-sight […]
** May 14 1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler‎, volume 4, number 121, London: J. Payne & J. Bouquet, page 193:His [Edmund Spenser’s] stile was in his own time allowed to be vicious, so darkened with old words and peculiarities of phrase, and so remote from common use, that Johnson boldly pronounces him to have written no language.
** 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎, London: Jonathan Cape, page 18:“Darken not counsel,” said Corund, “to me and my sons. Have I not these four years past been as a brother unto thee, and wilt thou still be secret toward us?”
* (transitive) To make foul; to sully; to tarnish.
** c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:I must not think there are Evils enow to darken all his goodness:
* (intransitive) To be extinguished or deprived of vitality, to die.
** 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, Canto XIX, page 32:The Danube to the Severn gave ⁠The darken’d heart that beat no more; ⁠They laid him by the pleasant shore, And in the hearing of the wave.

#### Conjugation

$^†$ Archaic or obsolete.

#### Synonyms

* blacken
* swarten

#### Derived terms

* bedarken
* darken a church door
* darken down
* darkener
* darken someone's door
* darken someone's doorstep
* darken someone's doorway
* darken up
* endarken
* overdarken
* redarken

#### Related terms

* dark

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Anagrams

* Danker, Kendra, danker, de-rank, derank, endark, kendra, narked, ranked