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definitions

murk

or mirk

[murk]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR murk ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

darkness; gloom: the murk of a foggy night.

adjective

Archaic. dark; murky.

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. 2019

Related Words for murk

dimness, gloom, murkiness, dusk

Examples from the Web for murk

Historical Examples of murk

  • All I saw moving was a heron; he was flying low, and disappeared in the murk.

    Chance

    Joseph Conrad

  • It issued from the forest a mile away and its head was lost in the murk of the fields.

    Tales Of Hearsay

    Joseph Conrad

  • Through the murk Code could see the Nettie B. three miles ahead.

    The Harbor of Doubt

    Frank Williams

  • Or was there some prisoner like himself lost out there in the murk?

    Storm Over Warlock

    Andre Norton

  • Whistler or Monet might picture for us the murk and mystery of this pregnant gloom.

British Dictionary definitions for murk

murk

1

mirk

noun

gloomy darkness

adjective

an archaic variant of murky

Word Origin for murk

C13: probably from Old Norse myrkr darkness; compare Old English mirce dark

murk

2

verb (tr) slang

to murder (a person)
to defeat (a team) convincingly

Word Origin for murk

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).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper