murk
or mirk
[murk]
- darkness; gloom: the murk of a foggy night.
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- Archaic. dark; murky.
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Origin of murk
before 900; Middle English mirke, myrke < Old Norse myrkr dark, darkness, replacing Old English myrce dark
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for murk
Historical Examples
All I saw moving was a heron; he was flying low, and disappeared in the murk.
ChanceJoseph Conrad
It issued from the forest a mile away and its head was lost in the murk of the fields.
Tales Of HearsayJoseph Conrad
Through the murk Code could see the Nettie B. three miles ahead.
The Harbor of DoubtFrank Williams
Or was there some prisoner like himself lost out there in the murk?
Storm Over WarlockAndre Norton
Whistler or Monet might picture for us the murk and mystery of this pregnant gloom.
The Gate of AppreciationCarleton Noyes
murk1
mirk
- gloomy darkness
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- an archaic variant of murky
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Word Origin
C13: probably from Old Norse myrkr darkness; compare Old English mirce dark
murk2
- to murder (a person)
- to defeat (a team) convincingly
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Word Origin
C20: of unknown origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for murk
n
c.1300, myrke, from Old Norse myrkr "darkness," from Proto-Germanic *merkwjo- (cf. Old English mirce "murky, black, dark; murkiness, darkness," Danish mǿrk "darkness," Old Saxon mirki "dark"); cognate with Old Church Slavonic mraku, Serbo-Croatian mrak, Russian mrak "darkness;" Lithuanian merkti "shut the eyes, blink," from PIE *mer- "to flicker" (see morn). Murk Monday was long the name in Scotland for the great solar eclipse of March 29, 1652 (April 8, New Style).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper