charks

Noun

chark (countable and uncountable, plural charks)

1. Charcoal; coke.
   • ... so I contrived to burn some wood here, as I had seen done in England, under turf, till it became chark or dry coal ...1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
2. A pointed stick, which when placed with the point against another piece of wood, and spun rapidly in alternate directions with the aid of attached cords, produces enough heat by friction to create a fire; a fire drill.
   • The discoverer of the chark, or " fire-drill," an instrument for obtaining fire by artificial means, would be so great a benefactor to a people that had to suffer all the inconveniences resulting from occasional fireless hearths, that we may well understand why he may be invested by his astonished...1872, Charles Hardwick, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-lore
3. (US, Alaska) A wine glass.
   • At noon, each man got his half-chark (a wine glass) full of rum and a four-quart iron pot of fish soup made from salt salmon, potatoes and graham flour ... in the evening another half chark of rum and 20 cents as pay for the day's work.2006, Phyllis Downing Carlson, Laurel Downing Bill, Aunt Phil's Trunk: Early Alaska
4. A Middle Eastern falcon, probably the lanner.
   • A good chark will sometimes take as many as eight or ten bustards or five or six gazelles in the course of a morning.1856, Austen Henry Layard, Discoveries among the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, 2nd edition

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