dark
    adj 1: 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" [ant:
           light]
    2: (used of color) having a dark hue; "dark green"; "dark
       glasses"; "dark colors like wine red or navy blue" [ant:
       light, light-colored]
    3: brunet (used of hair or skin or eyes); "dark eyes"
    4: 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 [syn: black, dark,
       sinister]
    5: secret; "keep it dark"
    6: 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" [syn: dark,
       dour, glowering, glum, moody, morose, saturnine,
       sour, sullen]
    7: 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" [syn: benighted, dark]
    8: 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" [syn: dark,
       obscure]
    9: 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" [syn: blue,
       dark, dingy, disconsolate, dismal, gloomy, grim,
       sorry, drab, drear, dreary]
    10: having skin rich in melanin pigments; "National Association
        for the Advancement of Colored People"; "dark-skinned
        peoples" [syn: colored, coloured, dark, dark-
        skinned, non-white]
    11: not giving performances; closed; "the theater is dark on
        Mondays"
    n 1: absence of light or illumination [syn: dark, darkness]
         [ant: light, lighting]
    2: absence of moral or spiritual values; "the powers of
       darkness" [syn: iniquity, wickedness, darkness, dark]
    3: an unilluminated area; "he moved off into the darkness" [syn:
       darkness, dark, shadow]
    4: the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark
       outside [syn: night, nighttime, dark] [ant: day,
       daylight, daytime]
    5: an unenlightened state; "he was in the dark concerning their
       intentions"; "his lectures dispelled the darkness" [syn:
       dark, darkness]

Dark \Dark\ (d[aum]rk), a. [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.
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            O dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,
            Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse
            Without all hope of day!              --Milton.
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            In the dark and silent grave.         --Sir W.
                                                  Raleigh.
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   2. Not clear to the understanding; not easily seen through;
      obscure; mysterious; hidden.
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            The dark problems of existence.       --Shairp.
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            What may seem dark at the first, will afterward be
            found more plain.                     --Hooker.
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            What's your dark meaning, mouse, of this light word?
                                                  --Shak.
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   3. Destitute of knowledge and culture; in moral or
      intellectual darkness; unrefined; ignorant.
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            The age wherein he lived was dark, but he
            Could not want light who taught the world to see.
                                                  --Denhan.
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            The tenth century used to be reckoned by medi[ae]val
            historians as the darkest part of this intellectual
            night.                                --Hallam.
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   4. Evincing black or foul traits of character; vile; wicked;
      atrocious; as, a dark villain; a dark deed.
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            Left him at large to his own dark designs. --Milton.
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   5. Foreboding evil; gloomy; jealous; suspicious.
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            More dark and dark our woes.          --Shak.
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            A deep melancholy took possesion of him, and gave a
            dark tinge to all his views of human nature.
                                                  --Macaulay.
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            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.
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   6. Deprived of sight; blind. [Obs.]
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            He was, I think, at this time quite dark, and so had
            been for some years.                  --Evelyn.
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   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.
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   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]
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Dark \Dark\ (d[aum]rk), n.
   1. Absence of light; darkness; obscurity; a place where there
      is little or no light.
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            Here stood he in the dark, his sharp sword out.
                                                  --Shak.
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   2. The condition of ignorance; gloom; secrecy.
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            Look, what you do, you do it still i' th' dark.
                                                  --Shak.
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            Till we perceive by our own understandings, we are
            as much in the dark, and as void of knowledge, as
            before.                               --Locke.
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   3. (Fine Arts) A dark shade or dark passage in a painting,
      engraving, or the like; as, the light and darks are well
      contrasted.
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            The lights may serve for a repose to the darks, and
            the darks to the lights.              --Dryden.
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Dark \Dark\, v. t.
   To darken; to obscure. [Obs.] --Milton.
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