nark1
/nɑːk
/informal
noun
1British A police informer: I’m not a copper’s nark...
- The opprobrium that once attached to informers, snitches, snouts, shoppers and narks in all walks of life no longer exists.
- I wonder if the Canadian police could consider invoicing narks directly?
- Then the copper whips off a little advert looking for narks to come forward over this purely political offence.
2Australian /NZ An annoying person or thing.He would have made his point, saved the pain of being painted a tax nark, while exploiting the Coalition's leadership tension....
- I admit I can be a nark on the park sometimes but I hate seeing people losing and still looking happy.
verb [with object] British
Cause annoyance to: women like her nark me...
- I'd put in eight weeks of training, but the controversy has narked me a bit.
- This narked a few people, including his apparently unpaid vet and a group who claimed that the animals on his ranch were being treated cruelly.
- So, well done, your girlfriend, for finding a humorous card that actually did the trick - and I'm not at all surprised that she's narked that you just chucked it out.
Phrases
nark it!
Origin
Mid 19th century: from Romany nāk 'nose'.
The original meaning of nark was ‘an annoying or troublesome person’, a sense which survives in Australia and New Zealand, and in the verb nark, ‘to annoy’. The word is from Romany nok or nak, ‘nose’. Snout and snitch (L17th, of unknown origin) are other words that mean both ‘nose’ and ‘informer’, and the word nosy itself implies an inappropriate interest in other people's business.
Rhymes
nark2
/nɑːk/noun
Another term for narc.