- a variation of narc.
nark
1 Americannoun
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British Slang. a stool pigeon or informer.
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Australian Slang. an annoying person.
verb (used without object)
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narks,
present (3rd person singular)
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narked,
past participle, past
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narking
present participle
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British Slang. to act as a police informer or stool pigeon.
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Australian Slang. to become annoyed.
noun
noun
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an informer or spy, esp one working for the police ( copper's nark )
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a person who complains irritatingly
an old nark
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a spoilsport
verb
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to annoy, upset, or irritate
he was narked by her indifference
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(intr) to inform or spy, esp for the police
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(intr) to complain irritatingly
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to nag someone
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stop it!
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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narksimple
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narkssimple
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have narkedperfect
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has narkedperfect
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am narkingprogressive
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are narkingprogressive
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is narkingprogressive
-
have been narkingperfect progressive
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has been narkingperfect progressive
Past
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narkedsimple
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had narkedperfect
-
was narkingprogressive
-
were narkingprogressive
-
had been narkingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of nark1
First recorded in 1860–65; from Romani word nāk, nak, nok “nose”; akin to Sanskrit nāsā “nose”; the r is unexplained; see origin at nose ( def. )
Origin of nark2
First recorded in 1875–80; of uncertain origin, perhaps from Romani nakh “nose,” later conflated with narc ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Publicly, Colvin had little time for feminism, quoting famed reporter Martha Gellhorn’s line that “feminists nark me” in one article.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 10, 2018
That would nark you off a bit, too, wouldn’t it?
From The Guardian ● Sep. 25, 2017
Not a good deal happens after O'Leary's arrival, except that the gang gives a spying nark a tough time and both O'Leary and Woody stand to go to jail for a while.
From Time Magazine Archive
From there nark will be able to reach almost all worthwhile targets in heartland Russia.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nobody wanted to nark on Dana and have to face him the next day on the bus.
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
It really narks me off when people don’t get my references.
From The Guardian ● May 31, 2017
The other side was narks an' cows an' rotters to a man; But mine was all reel bonzer chaps.
From Digger Smith by Hal Gye
To have them narks under my very roof, abrazenin' it out!
From A Girl Among the Anarchists by Isabel Meredith
Captain Barillon was the great gentleman-apache before your time; he died in a madhouse, screaming with fear of the "narks" and receivers that had betrayed him and hunted him down.
From The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton
"I have my watch!" quoth I. "They'll think as you prigs it and hand you over to the narks an' queer cuffins—" "That sounds very terrible; what do you mean?"
From Peregrine's Progress by Jeffery Farnol
No 10 certainly hadn't planned for their ideas to get leaked, as they were to the BBC, and were mighty narked that they had.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2023
"Queen so narked she has started marking the bowls to see when the levels dipped."
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 12, 2013
Sir Alex Ferguson said scathingly of Phil Dowd, apparently narked by a spate of hard tackles from an unusually committed Arsenal side that had knocked United out of their stride.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 29, 2013
No wonder he's a bit narked, writes Paolo Bandini.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 18, 2013
It’s like to have narked this girl for life.”
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
It means royally narking off Mrs Fiver by ignoring her and watching football yet again, just hours after the end of the play-off final and everything.
From The Guardian ● May 21, 2010
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
