darknessn.
/ˈdɑːknəs/, U.S. /ˈdɑrknəs/ 1. Lack of moral or spiritual goodness; sinfulness; wickedness, evil.heart of darkness, kingdom of darkness, prince of darkness: see the first element.In early use often as part of an extended metaphor.In quot. c1384 in plural in the same sense.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > [noun]
evilc1040
darknessOE
lithera1225
illa1300
illnessc1500
OE Glosses to Sententiae of Isidore (Royal 7 C.iv) in R. Cornelius Die altenglische Interlinearversion zu De vittiis et peccatis (1995) 167 In hac tanta obscuritate non valet homo divinam perscrutari..dispositionem : on þyssere swa micelre deorcnysse na mæg mann godcunde þurhsmeagean dihtnunge.
lOE Homily (Corpus Cambr. 302) in J. Bazire & J. E. Cross Eleven Old Eng. Rogationtide Homilies (1989) 70 He manncynne onlyhte mænige gastlice leohtfatu and sende hider on þisne middaneard for þan þe he wold gedwæscean þa deor [c] nysse and synne þysternysse fram urum heortum acyrran.
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Coloss. i. 13 The which delyuerede vs fro the power of derknessis.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Trin. Cambr.) l. 17881 Þo folk in dedly derkenes stad Þis grete liȝt made hem glad.
1545 M. Coverdale tr. Erasmus Shorte Recap. Enchiridion viii. sig. C Blindnesse cancred with corrupte and euell bringing vp, lewde company, froward affectious, darknesse of vices and with custome of synne.
1766 J. Fordyce Serm. Young Women II. viii. 52 All these concur with the powers of darkness in misleading.
1872 J. Morley Voltaire v. 217 They [sc. the clergy] were..the incarnation of the average darkness of the hour.
1912 Railroad Assoc. Mag. 15 Feb. 14 A world full of darkness, cruelty and lust such as we cannot even imagine.
2000 N.Y. Jewish Week 14 Jan. (Manhattan ed.) 41 They found themselves confronting the same forces of darkness that had driven them across the Atlantic.
2.
a. The total or partial absence of light; a state or condition in which there is little or no light. Also (esp. in early use) as a count noun (frequently in plural).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > [noun]
thesternessc888
thesterc897
murkOE
theosterleykc1000
darkc1300
darkheadc1300
murknessa1325
therknessa1325
darknessc1350
tenebres1413
tenebrousa1450
obscurity1481
tenebrosity1490
obscureness1509
dern?a1513
sable?a1513
darksomeness1571
fuliginousness1576
darkishness1583
murksomeness1625
obscure1667
soot1789
tenebrity1789
nightness1839
raylessness1843
lightlessness1845
darkling1882
unlight1883
c1350 Psalter (BL Add. 17376) in K. D. Bülbring Earliest Compl. Eng. Prose Psalter (1891) civ. 26 He sent derknisses, and made derke þe Egipciens.
c1430 (c1395) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) Prol. l. 95 And clothede was the flour..ffor derknesse of the nyht.
1508 J. Fisher Treat. Penyt. Psalmes sig. ee.iv Bytwene the shinynge lyght & blacke derknes.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost i. 63 No light, but rather darkness visible Serv'd only to discover sights of woe. View more context for this quotation
1696 W. Whiston New Theory of Earth iii. 158 At the time immediately preceding the six days Creation, the face of the Abyss, or superior Regions of the Chaos, were involv'd in a thick Darkness.
1759 C. Hervey Let. 14 Jan. (1785) I. 19 From the ruins a prodigious cloud of dust immediately arose, which overwhelmed the city with sudden darkness.
1860 J. Tyndall Glaciers of Alps i. xxv. 188 An aperture through which the darkness of the chasm was rendered visible.
1928 Times 16 Aug. 10/2 A signal pistol went off, and in a few seconds the roar of the three engines being run up came through the darkness.
1970 M. Hodge Crick crack Monkey (1981) iv. 17 As the windows were closed one by one a cosy darkness crept in.
2015 L. Williamson Art of being Normal (2016) xxii. 153 She slams the door shut and turns out the light, plunging us into darkness.
b. Night, nightfall.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > day and night > day or daytime > evening > [noun] > twilight, dusk, or nightfall
nighteOE
evengloamOE
eveningOE
gloamingc1000
darknessa1382
twilighting1387
crepusculum1398
crepusculec1400
darkc1400
twilight1412
sky1515
twinlightc1532
day-going?1552
cockshut1592
shutting1598
blind man's holiday1599
candle-lighting1605
gropsing1606
nightfall1612
dusk1622
torchlighta1656
candlelight1663
crepuscle1665
shut1667
mock-shade1669
close1696
duskish1696
glooma1699
setting1699
dimmit1746
to-fall of the day or night1748
darklins1767
even-close1781
mirkning1790
gloaming-shot1793
darkening1814
bat-flying time1818
gloama1821
between-light1821
settle1822
dayfall1823
evenfall1825
onfall1825
owl-hoot1832
glooming1842
darkfall1884
smokefall1936
dusk-light1937
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Isa. lix. 10 Wee han stumblid in mydday, as in dercnesses [L. in tenebris].
1598 B. Yong tr. J. de Montemayor Diana iii. iv. 454 The faire, the fresh, the red, and rosie morning Doth follow still the long and tedious night, And after darknes comes the sun shine day.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Odyssey xix, in Iliad & Odyssey II. 455 But when the sun declined, and darkness fell, Each sought his couch, and took the gift of sleep.
1865 H. B. Tristram Land of Israel vi. 131 We had time, before darkness called us in to dinner, to take a ramble among the gardens.
1910 Use of Revenue-cutter Service in locating Yacht of John J. Astor 9 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (61st Congr., 2nd Sess.: House of Representatives Doc. 549) CXXXI The searchlights of the Seneca, Gresham, and an unknown tug that arrived after darkness..were kept playing over the scene.
1959 T. H. White Godstone & Blackymor iv. 63 We arrived before darkness, a freezing evening, with the Atlantic wind unchecked by a single perpendicular thing between there and America.
2011 Daily Tel. 5 Sept. 31/3 As darkness fell, he and two comrades slipped into the river, pushing in front of them a bamboo raft.
3. Blindness; dimness of vision. Now chiefly literary and poetic.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of eye > disordered vision > [noun] > blindness
blindnessc1000
blindheada1340
darknessa1382
unsightc1412
stone-blindc1500
cecity1528
ablepsy1616
anopsy1646
invision1646
anopsia1842
sightlessness1847
stone-blindness1868
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1969) Isa. xxix. 18 Fro derknesses & mystynesses þe eȝen of blynde men shul seen.
?a1425 (?1373) Lelamour Herbal (1938) f. 6 (MED) Drinke hit; hit stoppiþe þe eyese rennyng and doþe a-way derknes.
1568 W. Turner Herbal iii. 6 The litle filmes that go ouer the eyes, wherof darknes doth rise.
1842 Ld. Tennyson Godiva in Poems (new ed.) II. 115 His eyes, before they had their will, Were shrivell'd into darkness in his head.
2005 B. Keating & S. Keating Blood Sisters (2006) Prol. 2 The body of the man was staked out on the ground,..sightless eye sockets turned in darkness to the moon.
4. Gloom, unhappiness; despondency, despair; bleakness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > adversity > [noun] > darkness of trouble
darknessa1382
cloudc1430
the mind > emotion > suffering > [noun] > darkness of
darknessa1382
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Job x. 21 Er I go..to the derk erthe, and couered with the dercnesse [L. caligine] of deth.
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) (1882) iv. l. 300 Ende I wil as Edippe yn derknesse My sorwful lyf, and dyen in dystresse.
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ iii. xx. 79 There is some darknesse hapned twixt the two Favorits.
1811 P. B. Shelley Bigotry's Victim iii. 7 The darkness of deepest dismay.
1997 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 12 Mar. c12/5 They have also played down the work's darkness and psychological conflict.
2017 K. Shamsie Home Fire v. 128 A man of courage who..kept his comrades' spirits up through times of darkness.
5. Obscurity; mystery, secrecy.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > keeping from knowledge > [noun] > making obscure > obscure condition
darknessc1384
darkc1405
veiledness1662
occultness1727
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Matt. x. 27 That thing that Y say to ȝou in dercnessis [L. in tenebris], saye ȝee in the liȝt.
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) iv. pr. vi. l. 3825 To vnwrappen þe hidde causes of þinges and to discoueren me þe resouns couered with dirknesses.
1543–4 Act 35 Hen. VIII c. 1 The vaile of darcknes of the vsurped power..of the see and bishoppes of Rome.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) v. i. 151 To vnfold, though lately we intended To keepe in darkenesse, what occasion now Reueales. View more context for this quotation
1692 E. Walker tr. Epictetus Enchiridion (1737) ‘To the Author’ Truth's still in darkness undiscovered.
1869 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) III. xii. 253 I found the question wrapped in darkness.
1889 J. Corbett Monk xiii. 191 This formidable figure that had arisen so suddenly and with such mystery, this man of darkness.
1998 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 3 Oct. d10 Much of the distant past is shrouded in darkness, and much of it remains unknowable.
6. The quality of being dark in shade or colour; (of a colour) depth, intensity.In quot. a1398 perhaps: sallowness. Cf. dark adj. 5a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [noun] > shade or tone > darkness
swartnessa1100
darknessa1398
sable?a1513
swarthness?1527
darksomeness1571
swarthiness1577
swartha1661
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vii. xxxv. 381 Ofte it happiþ þat effumera..semeþ in þe skynne of þe pacient a maner derknes, wannes, ȝelouȝnes and wastinge.
?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) i. pr. i. l. 47 Þe wiche cloþes a derkenes of a forleten and dispised elde had [emended in ed. to hadde] duskid and dirkid.
1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) ii. lix. f. xlvij The fyre taketh smoke and derkenesse of the mater to whiche he is conioyned.
1651 Record's Urinal of Physick (new ed.) Addit. 103 This is the colour of lead, which is much darker then the inner part, though indeed both are one colour, and differ onely in brightness and darkness, which ought rather to be called the hue of colours, then colour.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna xii. xxiii. 7 The glossy darkness of her streaming hair.
1929 Jrnl. Agric. Res. 15 Nov. 787 The darkness of the red in both down and adult plumage increases directly with the value of the grades.
2017 Grimsby Lincoln News (Nexis) 24 Apr. (Final ed.) (Community section) 1 The deep, rich darkness of their clothing.
7. Lack of spiritual or intellectual enlightenment; ignorance.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > want of knowledge, ignorance > intellectual ignorance > [noun]
thesterc897
blindness971
theosterleykc1000
darkness?c1425
offuscation1502
obscurationa1550
Cimmerianism1630
benightment1651
blindfoldedness1863
benightedness1865
society > faith > aspects of faith > spirituality > inspiration or revelation > [noun] > lack of
blindness971
darkness?c1425
darkishness1583
benightment1651
?c1425 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Cambr. Ii.3.21) (1886) iii. met. xi. 79 Alle the dyrknesse of his mysknowynge.
1531 W. Tyndale Expos. Fyrste Epist. St. Jhon 15 All that lyue in ignoraunce are called darknesse.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 419. ¶5 The Darkness and Superstition of later Ages.
1824 Lancet 22 Feb. 243/1 The millions of people..have hitherto been kept in a state of darkness under the thraldom of priest craft and despotism.
1993 J. E. Dayton Discov. Glass i. 2/1 Central Europe and the western Mediterranean were far from being areas of darkness and ignorance.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > [noun]
deepnessa1000
subtletya1387
difficultyc1405
mistiheadc1425
darknessc1450
obscurity1474
profoundnessc1475
obscureness1509
profundity1559
perplexity1563
opacity1575
darksomeness1583
perplexednessa1586
deptha1593
spinosity1605
abstruseness1628
abstrusity1649
inevidence1673
enigmaticalness1684
dark1699
indistinctness1704
confusion1729
reconditeness1779
obfuscity1832
oracularity1840
irrecognizability1847
recondity1856
unrecognizableness1865
crypticity1892
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > obscurity > [noun]
difficultyc1405
mistiheadc1425
darknessc1450
obscureness1509
obscuritya1522
unclearness1574
unplainness1619
abstruseness1628
umbragec1642
abstrusity1649
imperspicuity1659
reconditeness1779
mistiness1816
crampness1840
recondity1856
c1450 tr. Secreta Secret. (Royal) 6 Whan thou hast vndirstond the sothe of the significacions of the wordis, and þe derknes of the examples, than shalt thou haue fully and perfitly alle that thou desirist.
1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique iii. f. 86v Poeticall Clerkes..delityng muche in their awne darkenesse.
a1568 R. Ascham Scholemaster (1570) ii. f. 65v The vse of old wordes is not the greatest cause of Salustes roughnes and darknesse.
a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 164 He preached and prayed often himself, but with so peculiar a darkness.
1887 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 22 Mar. 4/3 A law of such incalculable importance, such abyssmal darkness of meaning, and such limitless possibility of construction.
1923 Jrnl. Philos. 20 648 Those [characters] of the flimsy and fantastic type..bulk so considerably in contemporary poetry that they constitute an essential trait of it and are a chief cause of its darkness of meaning.
9. allusive. Death.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > [noun] > state or condition of
deathOE
homeOE
restOE
sleepOE
powderc1300
corruptiona1340
gravec1380
darkness1535
silence1535
tomb1559
iron sleep1573
another country1597
iron slumber1604
deadness1607
deadlihead1612
deadlihood1659
nothingness1813
unlivingness1914
post-mortemity1922
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Job x. 21 To that londe of darcknesse & shadowe of death.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Measure for Measure (1623) iii. i. 82 If I must die, I will encounter darknesse as a bride, And hugge it in mine armes. View more context for this quotation
1988 G. Clarke Capote (1989) xxxvi. 306 I have such a longing for darkness...I've only been staying alive for the last two years because I want to get the Nobel Prize.
10. Phonetics. Articulation with a velarized or pharyngealized quality; the quality of being dark (dark adj. 8d(b)).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > speech sound by place or organ > [noun] > velar > quality
darkness1906
velarity1952
1906 W. Rippmann Sounds Spoken Eng. 47 The ‘darkness’ of the [l] is particularly noticeable when it comes at the end of a word.
2001 Phonol. 18 388 The darkness and lightness of /l/ in particular environments is what our experiment tests.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021).
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