darken
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: derivation
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”).
Base: dark
Affixes: -en
Inflected forms:
form: darkens
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: darkening
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: darkened
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: darkened
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: darken
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: darken
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: darkened
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: darken
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: darkenest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: darkened
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: darkenedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: darkens
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: darkeneth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: darkened
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: darken
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: darkened
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: darken
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: darkened
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: darken
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: darkening
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: darkened
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: To make dark or darker by reducing light.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: […] they [locusts] covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened […]
So spake the Sovran voice, and Clouds began
To darken all the Hill […]
Almos is a hydrogen-helium gas giant with traces of sodium darkening its atmosphere.
gloss: To become dark or darker (having less light).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: […] the owl and the bat flew round the darkening trees:
[…] leaning at her window she watched the end of that eventful day darken over the ranges.
gloss: To get dark (referring to the sky, either in the evening or as a result of cloud).
pos: verb
tags: impersonal
examples: Well, I must go in now; and you too: it darkens.
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.
From babyhood until fourteen, to play in a garden in the evening when it is darkening is a legend.
It had been fine all morning, but it was darkening now, the weather was going to get worse.
He looked up. It was darkening here as well. Sky getting red, the edge of the quarry dark and jagged against it.
gloss: To make dark or darker in colour.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: She puts on lipstick and darkens her eyebrows, which are now very scanty […]
gloss: To become dark or darker in colour.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The lovely hair had lost its rose-gold glimmer, and had darkened to rose-brown […]
gloss: To render gloomy, darker in mood.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not
The mirth o’ the feast.
It was a pleasure seeing you again. I’m only sorry I had to darken the pleasure with my private problems.
gloss: To become gloomy, darker in mood.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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 […]
Alice’s big eyes darkened with trouble.
gloss: To blind, impair the eyesight.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
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.’
gloss: To be blinded, lose one’s eyesight.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To cloud, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or intelligible.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
[…] such was his wisdome, as his Confidence did seldome darken his Fore-sight […]
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.
“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?”
gloss: To make foul; to sully; to tarnish.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I must not think there are
Evils enow to darken all his goodness:
gloss: To be extinguished or deprived of vitality, to die.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
Related words: dark
Derived words: 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
Translations:
lang: Albanian
word: ngrys
lang: Amharic
word: ጨለመ
roman: č̣älämä
lang: Armenian
word: մթնել
roman: mtʻnel
lang: Azerbaijani
word: qaralmaq
lang: Azerbaijani
word: toralmaq
lang: Bulgarian
word: потъмнявам
roman: potǎmnjavam
lang: Dutch
word: donker worden
lang: Esperanto
word: malheliĝi
lang: Esperanto
word: mallumiĝi
lang: Finnish
word: pimentyä
lang: French
word: obscurcir
lang: French
word: assombrir
lang: Galician
word: escurecer
lang: Galician
word: escurentar
lang: Galician
word: enfoscar
lang: Galician
word: amourear
lang: Galician
word: abazanar
lang: Galician
word: entoldar
lang: Galician
word: toldar
lang: Galician
word: entoucar
lang: Galician
word: lobrecer
lang: German
word: verdunkeln
lang: Gothic
word: 𐍂𐌹𐌵𐌹𐌶𐌾𐌰𐌽
roman: riqizjan
lang: Ancient Greek
word: ἀμαυρόομαι
roman: amauróomai
lang: Italian
word: imbrunire
lang: Old English
word: nīpan
lang: Polish
word: ciemnieć
lang: Polish
word: ściemnieć
lang: Quechua
word: arphayay
lang: Romagnol
word: imbrunìr
lang: Russian
word: темне́ть
roman: temnétʹ
lang: Swedish
word: mörkna
lang: Albanian
word: ngrys
lang: Armenian
word: մգացնել
roman: mgacʻnel
lang: Azerbaijani
word: qaraltmaq
lang: Basque
word: goibeldu
lang: Dutch
word: donkerder maken
lang: Dutch
word: donkerder kleuren
lang: Finnish
word: tummentaa
lang: French
word: foncer
lang: Galician
word: escurecer
lang: Galician
word: enfoscar
lang: Galician
word: amourear
lang: Galician
word: abazanar
lang: Galician
word: enmourecer
lang: Galician
word: atrapecer
lang: Icelandic
word: dekkja
lang: Italian
word: imbrunire
lang: Māori
word: whakauriuri
lang: Romagnol
word: imbrunìr
lang: Russian
word: затемнять
roman: zatemnjatʹ