darken

Verb

darken (third-person singular simple present darkens, present participle darkening, simple past and past participle darkened)

1. (transitive) To make dark or darker by reducing light.
   • […] they [locusts] covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 10:15
   • So spake the Sovran voice, and Clouds began
     To darken all the Hill […]1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...

   Synonyms:

   bedark, blacken, endark, swarten

2. (intransitive) To become dark or darker (having less light).
   • […] the owl and the bat flew round the darkening trees:1783, William Blake, “The Couch of Death”, in Richard Herne Shepherd, editor, Poetical Sketches, London: Basil Montagu Pickering, published 1868, page 84
   • […] leaning at her window she watched the end of that eventful day darken over the ranges.1930, Zane Grey, “Chapter Twelve”, in The Shepherd of Guadeloupe

   Synonyms:

   blacken, mirken, swarten

3. (impersonal) 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.1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XV, in Jane Eyre. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 289
   • 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.1901, William Stearns Davis, “Chapter 4”, in A Friend of Cæsar, New York: Macmillan, page 57

   Synonyms:

   dusk

4. (transitive) To make dark or darker in colour.
   • She puts on lipstick and darkens her eyebrows, which are now very scanty […]2009, Alice Munro, “Free Radicals”, in Too Much Happiness, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, page 118
5. (intransitive) To become dark or darker in colour.
   • The lovely hair had lost its rose-gold glimmer, and had darkened to rose-brown […]1979, Mary Stewart, The Last Enchantment, New York: Fawcett Crest, Book 4, Chapter 4, p. 405

   Synonyms:

   darkle

6. (transitive) To render gloomy, darker in mood.
   • With these forced thoughts, I prithee, darken not
     The mirth o’ the feast.c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
   • It was a pleasure seeing you again. I’m only sorry I had to darken the pleasure with my private problems.1969, Chaim Potok, chapter 4, in The Promise, New York: Fawcett Crest, published 1872, page 89

   Synonyms:

   begloom, bring down, dispirit, aggrieve, attrist, begrieve, besorrow, grieve, pain, come down on

7. (intransitive) To become gloomy, darker in mood.
   • His countenance darkened while he spoke […]1797, Ann Radcliffe, The Italian, London: T. Cadell Jun[ior] and W. Davies, Volume 2, Chapter 9, p. 303
   • Alice’s big eyes darkened with trouble.1942, Emily Carr, “Mrs. Crane”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   gloom, mourn, yearn, aggrieve, besorrow, condole, engrieve, erme, grieve, grieven

8. (transitive) To blind, impair the eyesight.
   • Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 9:10
   • 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.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

   Synonyms:

   beblind, blinden, exoculate, inblind

9. (intransitive) To be blinded, lose one’s eyesight.
10. (transitive) To cloud, obscure, or perplex; to render less clear or intelligible.
    • Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 38:2
    • […] such was his wisdome, as his Confidence did seldome darken his Fore-sight […]1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret...

    Synonyms:

    becloud, bedarken, bedim, fog

11. (transitive) To make foul; to sully; to tarnish.
    • I must not think there are
      Evils enow to darken all his goodness:c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...

    Synonyms:

    befoul, denigrate, soil, assoil, beclart, bedaub, bedirty, imbrue (especially with blood), bedizen, befile

12. (intransitive) 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.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XIX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 32

    Synonyms:

    cross the Styx, expire, pass away, assume room temperature, auger in, be called home, be gathered to one's fathers, be like the the One, be no more, be with Jesus