before 900; Middle English; Old English serc; cognate with Old Norse serkr ( cf. berserk)
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They leave not spindle, spoon, nor speit, Bed, blanket, bolster, sark, nor sheet, John o’ the Park Rypes kist and ark; For all sic wark He is richt meet.
From Border Raids and Reivers by Borland, Robert
At the hinder end, he got a clearness in his mind, sat up in his sark on the bed-side, and fell thinkin' ance mair o' the black man an' Janet.
From Masterpieces of Mystery, Vol. 1 (of 4) Ghost Stories by French, Joseph Lewis
For thou must shape a sark to me, 30 Ba, ba, &c.
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various
Shark and Sharkey I take to be the same name as Sere in the Liber Vitæ, from A.S. serc, Sco. "sark," shirt, in the sense of a shirt of mail.
From Surnames as a Science by Ferguson, Robert
"Wash on, wash on, my bonny maid, That wash sae clean your sark of silk;" "And weel fa' you, fair gentleman, 20 Your body's whiter than the milk."
From English and Scottish Ballads, Volume I (of 8) by Various
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.
