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• ark
  ark

  noun

  Noah's Ark.
• Ark.
  Ark.

  abbreviation

  Arkansas.
• Ark
  Ark

  noun

  the cupboard at the front of a synagogue, usually in the eastern wall, in which the Torah scrolls are kept

ark

¹ American  

[ahrk] / ɑrk /

noun

• arks
  plural

1. Noah's Ark.

2. Also called ark of the covenant. a chest or box containing the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, carried by the Israelites in their wanderings in the desert after the Exodus: the most sacred object of the tabernacle and the Temple in Jerusalem, where it was kept in the holy of holies.

3. Judaism. Ark, Holy Ark.

4. a place of protection or security; refuge; asylum.

5. a flatboat formerly used on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.

6. Nautical. life car.

7. Archaic. a chest or box.

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Ark. ² American  

abbreviation

1. Arkansas.

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ark ¹ British  

/ ɑːk /

noun

1. the vessel that Noah built and in which he saved himself, his family, and a number of animals and birds during the Flood (Genesis 6–9)

2. informal very old; out of date

3. a place or thing offering shelter or protection

4. dialect a chest, box, or coffer

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Ark ² British  

/ ɑːk /

noun

1. Also called: Holy Ark. the cupboard at the front of a synagogue, usually in the eastern wall, in which the Torah scrolls are kept

2. Also called: Ark of the Covenant. the most sacred symbol of God's presence among the Hebrew people, carried in their journey from Sinai to the Promised Land (Canaan) and eventually enshrined in the holy of holies of the Temple in Jerusalem

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Ark. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. Arkansas

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• arks
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ark

First recorded before 850; Middle English ark(e), erke, Old English arc, earc(e) (compare Old Frisian erke, arke, Dutch ark, Old High German, Gothic arka, Old Norse ǫrk ), from Latin arca “chest, coffer,” derivative of arcēre “to safeguard,” cognate with Hittite h̬ark- “hold, possess”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ark Ark. Ark arks

The clergy specifically placed the handles of the tall ark at the bottom, so that even preschoolers would be able to open it.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026

Unassuming from the outside, the shop opens into a huge ark of mortar-crusted brick and ribcage-like beams, with long dining tables displaying shapely vases, pitchers, teacups and plates in shades of apricot, amber and malachite.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026

Let me explain, and at the risk of coming across like a guy building an ark in the desert, offer options for adding dividends at a time of relative scarcity.

From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025

"The work we are doing, and zoos around Europe are doing, is really to be that lifeboat, to be that ark population."

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2025

I tell him about Moses, David and Goliath, and Noah’s ark.

From "Ninth Ward" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Wong Kim Ark. The case revolved around Ark, a San Francisco-born child of Chinese immigrants who had lived in the U.S. for 20 years but were denied citizenship under The Chinese Exclusion Act.

From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026

Last fall, he started regularly leaving his home in Little Rock Ark., to visit his parents in Azle, Texas, for a week at a time, helping them navigate his mother’s brain and lung cancer.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026

After the election but before Bill Clinton had been sworn in, Greenspan flew to Little Rock, Ark., to meet the new president.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

The hearing on Tuesday came hours after the onetime reality star was extradited from Tontitown, Ark., where he was arrested.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026

It must have been something like the moment the doors closed on Noah’s Ark. We threw our wool blankets over our heads, but it was already too late.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

“It was like they were moving the Ark of the Covenant,” Perea said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

John Hamilton, of Ark Vet Centre in Lockerbie, said they had 20,000 doses of the vaccine in stock at the start of the week but "that disappeared over 48 hours".

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

Wong Kim Ark, confirmed that the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause applied to people of all races.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

Because going to a place like the Ark Encounter is not about fun, and it’s certainly not about learning.

From Salon ● Jul. 10, 2026

“Oh Ark I” one of them would say.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

I understand the argument that zoos are now arks, safe places where endangered animals and genetic material are preserved in a world where thousands of species are hurtling toward extinction.

From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2025

Fragments from these genetically distinct coral types would be placed in land tanks in Sarasota and West Palm Beach that serve as modern-day arks for the vulnerable sea creatures.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2023

The restoration is addressing the woodwork, gilding, Torah arks and bimahs, or altars.

From New York Times ● May 4, 2022

Umbrellas, if not arks, are needed in the Pacific Northwest, while in the Rockies snow shovels are gathering cobwebs.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 4, 2021

There he sat and worked away all the year round, making dolls, and soldiers, and Noah's arks, and witches, and every other sort of toy you can think of.

From Christmas Its Origin, Celebration and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse by Robert Haven Schauffler