darken

From Middle English derkenen, dirkenen, from Old English *deorcnian, *diercnian (“to darken”), from Proto-Germanic *dirkinōną (“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”).

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑɹkən/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑːkən/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)kən

darken (third-person singular simple present darkens, present participle darkening, simple past and past participle darkened)

1. (transitive) To make dark or darker by reducing light.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Exodus 10.15,

     […] they [locusts] covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened […]

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 6, lines 56-58,

     So spake the Sovran voice, and Clouds began

     To darken all the Hill […]

2. (intransitive) To become dark or darker (having less light).
   • 1783, William Blake, “The Couch of Death” in Richard Herne Shepherd (ed.) Poetical Sketches, London: Basil Montagu Pickering, 1868, p. 84,

     […] the owl and the bat flew round the darkening trees:

   • 1930, Zane Grey, The Shepherd of Guadeloupe, Chapter Twelve,

     […] leaning at her window she watched the end of that eventful day darken over the ranges.

3. (impersonal) To get dark (referring to the sky, either in the evening or as a result of cloud).
   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter 15,

     Well, I must go in now; and you too: it darkens.

   • 1901, William Stearns Davis, A Friend of Cæsar, New York: Macmillan, Chapter 4, p. 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, p. 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 Colm Tóibín (ed.), The Kilfenora Teaboy: A Study of Paul Durcan, Dublin: New Island Books, p. 7,

     It had been fine all morning, but it was darkening now, the weather was going to get worse.

   • 2005, David Almond, Clay, London: Hodder Literature, Chapter Ten, p. 44,

     He looked up. It was darkening here as well. Sky getting red, the edge of the quarry dark and jagged against it.

4. (transitive) To make dark or darker in colour.
   • 2009, Alice Munro, “Free Radicals” in Too Much Happiness, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, p. 118,

     She puts on lipstick and darkens her eyebrows, which are now very scanty […]

5. (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 […]

6. (transitive) To render gloomy, darker in mood.
   • c. 1610, William Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale, Act IV, Scene 4,

     With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not

     The mirth o’ the feast.

   • 1969, Chaim Potok, The Promise, New York: Fawcett Crest, 1872, Chapter Four, p. 89,

     It was a pleasure seeing you again. I’m only sorry I had to darken the pleasure with my private problems.

7. (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, The Book of Small, Toronto: Irwin Publishing, 1986, “Mrs. Crane,” p. 42,

     Alice’s big eyes darkened with trouble.

8. (transitive) To blind, impair the eyesight.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 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.

9. (intransitive) To be blinded, lose one’s eyesight.
10. (transitive) To cloud, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or intelligible.
    • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Job 38.2,

      Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

    • 1629, Francis Bacon, The historie of the reigne of King Henry the Seuenth, London: I. Haviland and R. Young,

      […] such was his wisdome, as his Confidence did seldome darken his Fore-sight […]

    • 1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 121, 14 May, 1751, Volume 4, London: J. Payne & J. Bouquet, p. 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.

11. (transitive) To make foul; to sully; to tarnish.
    • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act I, Scene 4,

      I must not think there are

      Evils enow to darken all his goodness:

• blacken

• bedarken
• darkener
• darken someone's door

• dark

• Kendra, danker, de-rank, derank, endark, kendra, narked, ranked