darken

verb

Etymology: From Middle English derkenen, dirkenen, from Old English *deorcnian, *diercnian (“to darken”), from Proto-West Germanic *dirkinōn (“to darken”), equivalent to dark + -en. Cognate with Scots derken, durken (“to darken”), Old High German tarchanjan, terchinen (“to darken”), Middle High German terken, derken (“to darken”).

1. To make dark or darker by reducing light.

   “[…] they [locusts] covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened […]”

   “So spake the Sovran voice, and Clouds began To darken all the Hill […]”

2. To become dark or darker (having less light).

   “[…] the owl and the bat flew round the darkening trees:”

   “[…] leaning at her window she watched the end of that eventful day darken over the ranges.”

3. To get dark (referring to the sky, either in the evening or as a result of cloud).

   “Well, I must go in now; and you too: it darkens.”

   “Then they passed out from the Forum, forced their way through the crowded streets, and soon were through the Porta Ratumena, outside the walls, and struck out across the Campus Martius, upon the Via Flaminia. It was rapidly darkening.”

4. To make dark or darker in colour.

   “She puts on lipstick and darkens her eyebrows, which are now very scanty […]”

5. To become dark or darker in colour.

   “The lovely hair had lost its rose-gold glimmer, and had darkened to rose-brown […]”

6. To render gloomy, darker in mood.

   “With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not The mirth o’ the feast.”

   “It was a pleasure seeing you again. I’m only sorry I had to darken the pleasure with my private problems.”

7. To become gloomy, darker in mood.

   “1797, Ann Radcliffe, The Italian, London: T. Cadell Jun[ior] and W. Davies, Volume 2, Chapter 9, p. 303, His countenance darkened while he spoke […]”

   “Alice’s big eyes darkened with trouble.”

8. To blind, impair the eyesight.

   “Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see […]”

   “1773, Samuel Johnson, letter to James Boswell dated 5 July, 1773, in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, Volume I, London: Charles Dilly, p. 424, When your letter came to me, I was so darkened by an inflammation in my eye, that I could not for some time read it.”

9. To be blinded, lose one’s eyesight.
10. To cloud, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or intelligible.

    “Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?”

    “[…] such was his wisdome, as his Confidence did seldome darken his Fore-sight […]”

11. To make foul; to sully; to tarnish.

    “I must not think there are Evils enow to darken all his goodness:”

12. To be extinguished or deprived of vitality, to die.

    “The Danube to the Severn gave ⁠The darken’d heart that beat no more; ⁠They laid him by the pleasant shore, And in the hearing of the wave.”