"darkling" meaning in English

See darkling in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

IPA: /ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/, /ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/ (note: Etymology 3) Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav
Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ Etymology: Coined by Irish poet Mary Tighe in 1805, likely as an extension of the adverbial sense, and popularized by John Keats. Etymology templates: {{coinage|en|Mary Tighe|in=1805|nationality=Irish|occupation=poet}} Coined by Irish poet Mary Tighe in 1805 Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} darkling (not comparable)
  1. (poetic) Dark; growing dark; darkening. Tags: not-comparable, poetic
    Sense id: en-darkling-en-adj-JcVJLNLV Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English heteronyms, English terms suffixed with -ling (diminutive), Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 17 28 1 1 24 27 1 2 Disambiguation of English heteronyms: 21 27 1 2 21 24 1 3 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ling (diminutive): 18 25 2 2 21 23 2 7 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 21 27 0 1 21 26 1 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 23 28 0 1 21 25 1 1
  2. (figurative) Obscure; taking place unseen, as if in the dark. Tags: figuratively, not-comparable
    Sense id: en-darkling-en-adj-4zzAtI38 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English heteronyms, English terms suffixed with -ling (diminutive), Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 17 28 1 1 24 27 1 2 Disambiguation of English heteronyms: 21 27 1 2 21 24 1 3 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ling (diminutive): 18 25 2 2 21 23 2 7 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 21 27 0 1 21 26 1 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 23 28 0 1 21 25 1 1
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Adverb

IPA: /ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/, /ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/ (note: Etymology 3) Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav
Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ Etymology: From Middle English derkelyng. By surface analysis, dark + -ling. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|derkelyng}} Middle English derkelyng, {{surf|+suf|en|dark|ling|id2=adverbial}} By surface analysis, dark + -ling Head templates: {{en-adv|-}} darkling (not comparable)
  1. In the dark; in obscurity. Tags: not-comparable
    Sense id: en-darkling-en-adv-senvgjnz Categories (other): English terms suffixed with -ling (adverbial)
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Noun

IPA: /ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/, /ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/ (note: Etymology 3) Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav
Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ Etymology: From darkle + -ing, darkle itself a backformation from Tighe's adjectival sense. Etymology templates: {{af|en|darkle|-ing|id2=participial}} darkle + -ing Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} darkling (uncountable)
  1. (rare) Darkness. Tags: rare, uncountable
    Sense id: en-darkling-en-noun-B5YPGJ3B
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 3

Noun

IPA: /ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/, /ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/ (note: Etymology 3) Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav Forms: darklings [plural]
Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ Etymology: From dark + -ling. Etymology templates: {{af|en|dark|-ling|id2=diminutive}} dark + -ling Head templates: {{en-noun}} darkling (plural darklings)
  1. (obsolete) A child of darkness; someone dark by nature or who has grown dark in character. Tags: obsolete
    Sense id: en-darkling-en-noun-vStF7V2P Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English heteronyms, English terms suffixed with -ling (diminutive), Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 17 28 1 1 24 27 1 2 Disambiguation of English heteronyms: 21 27 1 2 21 24 1 3 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ling (diminutive): 18 25 2 2 21 23 2 7 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 21 27 0 1 21 26 1 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 23 28 0 1 21 25 1 1
  2. (fantasy) A creature that lives in the dark.
    Sense id: en-darkling-en-noun-A7Rcx-32 Categories (other): Fantasy, English entries with incorrect language header, English heteronyms, English terms suffixed with -ling (diminutive), Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 17 28 1 1 24 27 1 2 Disambiguation of English heteronyms: 21 27 1 2 21 24 1 3 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ling (diminutive): 18 25 2 2 21 23 2 7 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 21 27 0 1 21 26 1 2 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 23 28 0 1 21 25 1 1 Topics: fantasy
  3. (poetic) A demon. Tags: poetic
    Sense id: en-darkling-en-noun-fGlTYD6u
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 4

Verb

IPA: /ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/, /ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/ (note: Etymology 3) Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav
Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ Etymology: From darkle + -ing, darkle itself a backformation from Tighe's adjectival sense. Etymology templates: {{af|en|darkle|-ing|id2=participial}} darkle + -ing Head templates: {{head|en|verb form}} darkling
  1. present participle and gerund of darkle Tags: form-of, gerund, participle, present Form of: darkle
    Sense id: en-darkling-en-verb-Pjcvl6~C Categories (other): English terms suffixed with -ing (participial) Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -ing (participial): 19 81
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 3

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "derkelyng"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English derkelyng",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "+suf",
        "2": "en",
        "3": "dark",
        "4": "ling",
        "id2": "adverbial"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, dark + -ling",
      "name": "surf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English derkelyng. By surface analysis, dark + -ling.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "darkling (not comparable)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ling (adverbial)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              42,
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:",
          "text": "So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
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          ],
          "ref": "1667, John Milton, “Book III”, 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 as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:",
          "text": "As the wakeful bird sings darkling.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              104,
              112
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1816, Lord Byron, Darkness:",
          "text": "I had a dream, which was not all a dream. / The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars / Did wander darkling in the eternal space, / Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth / Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In the dark; in obscurity."
      ],
      "id": "en-darkling-en-adv-senvgjnz",
      "links": [
        [
          "obscurity",
          "obscurity"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/",
      "note": "Etymology 3"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "darkling"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Mary Tighe",
        "in": "1805",
        "nationality": "Irish",
        "occupation": "poet"
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      "expansion": "Coined by Irish poet Mary Tighe in 1805",
      "name": "coinage"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Coined by Irish poet Mary Tighe in 1805, likely as an extension of the adverbial sense, and popularized by John Keats.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "darkling (not comparable)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "17 28 1 1 24 27 1 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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        {
          "_dis": "21 27 1 2 21 24 1 3",
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "18 25 2 2 21 23 2 7",
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        {
          "_dis": "23 28 0 1 21 25 1 1",
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      ],
      "examples": [
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          "ref": "1805, Mary Tighe, Canto III, in Psyche, or the legend of love, Stanza 13, line 9:",
          "text": "She still pursued its flight, with all the speed / Her fainting strength had hitherto supplied: / What pathless wilds she crossed ! What forests darkling wide !",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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          ],
          "ref": "1812, Mary Tighe, Written for her niece S.K., in B. George Ulizio, editor, Psyche: with other poems, Stanza 4:",
          "text": "May thine autumn calm, serene, / Never want some lingering flower, / Which Affection's hand may glean, / Though the darkling mists may lower !",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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          ],
          "ref": "1867, Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach::",
          "text": "And we are here as on a darkling plain\nSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,\nWhere ignorant armies clash by night",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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          ],
          "ref": "1876, Heinrich Heine, translated by Thomas Selby Egan, Atta Troll and Other Poems, London: Chapman and Hall, […], page 165:",
          "text": "The air is cool and it’s darkling, / And calmly flows the Rhine; / The mountain tops are sparkling / In sunset’s parting shrine.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              132,
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 140:",
          "text": "To us and to an observer about Ripley it would have had precisely the same effect the Martians seemed in solitary possession of the darkling night, lit only as it was by the slender moon, the stars, the after-glow of the daylight[.]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Dark; growing dark; darkening."
      ],
      "id": "en-darkling-en-adj-JcVJLNLV",
      "links": [
        [
          "Dark",
          "dark"
        ],
        [
          "darkening",
          "darkening"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(poetic) Dark; growing dark; darkening."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable",
        "poetic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "17 28 1 1 24 27 1 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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        {
          "_dis": "21 27 1 2 21 24 1 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English heteronyms",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "18 25 2 2 21 23 2 7",
          "kind": "other",
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          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 27 0 1 21 26 1 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "23 28 0 1 21 25 1 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Obscure; taking place unseen, as if in the dark."
      ],
      "id": "en-darkling-en-adj-4zzAtI38",
      "links": [
        [
          "Obscure",
          "obscure"
        ],
        [
          "unseen",
          "unseen"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Obscure; taking place unseen, as if in the dark."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/",
      "note": "Etymology 3"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav.mp3",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "John Keats"
  ],
  "word": "darkling"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 3,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darkle",
        "3": "-ing",
        "id2": "participial"
      },
      "expansion": "darkle + -ing",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darkle + -ing, darkle itself a backformation from Tighe's adjectival sense.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "darkling (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1909, H.G. Wells, Chapter the First: The Stick of the Rocket, in Tono-Bungay, Book the Fourth: The Aftermath of Tono-Bungay:",
          "text": "She carried some rugs for me through the shrubbery in the darkling. \"They'll think we've gone mooning,\" she said, jerking her head at the household. \"I wonder what they make of us – criminals.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Darkness."
      ],
      "id": "en-darkling-en-noun-B5YPGJ3B",
      "links": [
        [
          "Darkness",
          "darkness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rare) Darkness."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/",
      "note": "Etymology 3"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "darkling"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 3,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "darkle",
        "3": "-ing",
        "id2": "participial"
      },
      "expansion": "darkle + -ing",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darkle + -ing, darkle itself a backformation from Tighe's adjectival sense.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
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        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb form"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
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        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -ing (participial)",
          "parents": [],
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        }
      ],
      "form_of": [
        {
          "word": "darkle"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "present participle and gerund of darkle"
      ],
      "id": "en-darkling-en-verb-Pjcvl6~C",
      "links": [
        [
          "darkle",
          "darkle#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "gerund",
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/",
      "note": "Etymology 3"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav.mp3",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "darkling"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 4,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "dark",
        "3": "-ling",
        "id2": "diminutive"
      },
      "expansion": "dark + -ling",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From dark + -ling.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "darklings",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "darkling (plural darklings)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 18th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "17 28 1 1 24 27 1 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 27 1 2 21 24 1 3",
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        {
          "_dis": "18 25 2 2 21 23 2 7",
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        {
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          "kind": "other",
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A child of darkness; someone dark by nature or who has grown dark in character."
      ],
      "id": "en-darkling-en-noun-vStF7V2P",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A child of darkness; someone dark by nature or who has grown dark in character."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Fantasy",
          "orig": "en:Fantasy",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 28 1 1 24 27 1 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 27 1 2 21 24 1 3",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English heteronyms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "18 25 2 2 21 23 2 7",
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          "parents": [],
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "21 27 0 1 21 26 1 2",
          "kind": "other",
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        {
          "_dis": "23 28 0 1 21 25 1 1",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A creature that lives in the dark."
      ],
      "id": "en-darkling-en-noun-A7Rcx-32",
      "links": [
        [
          "fantasy",
          "fantasy"
        ],
        [
          "creature",
          "creature"
        ],
        [
          "dark",
          "dark"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(fantasy) A creature that lives in the dark."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "fantasy"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "A demon."
      ],
      "id": "en-darkling-en-noun-fGlTYD6u",
      "links": [
        [
          "demon",
          "demon"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(poetic) A demon."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "poetic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/",
      "note": "Etymology 3"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav.mp3",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "darkling"
}
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  "categories": [
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
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    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
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    "English terms suffixed with -ling (diminutive)",
    "English uncomparable adverbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
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    "Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/2 syllables"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
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      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "+suf",
        "2": "en",
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        "id2": "adverbial"
      },
      "expansion": "By surface analysis, dark + -ling",
      "name": "surf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English derkelyng. By surface analysis, dark + -ling.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
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      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:",
          "text": "So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
              34
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1667, John Milton, “Book III”, 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 as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:",
          "text": "As the wakeful bird sings darkling.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              104,
              112
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1816, Lord Byron, Darkness:",
          "text": "I had a dream, which was not all a dream. / The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars / Did wander darkling in the eternal space, / Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth / Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In the dark; in obscurity."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "obscurity",
          "obscurity"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/",
      "note": "Etymology 3"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav.mp3",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "darkling"
}

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  "categories": [
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  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
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      "name": "coinage"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Coined by Irish poet Mary Tighe in 1805, likely as an extension of the adverbial sense, and popularized by John Keats.",
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "-"
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  "lang_code": "en",
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
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          "ref": "1805, Mary Tighe, Canto III, in Psyche, or the legend of love, Stanza 13, line 9:",
          "text": "She still pursued its flight, with all the speed / Her fainting strength had hitherto supplied: / What pathless wilds she crossed ! What forests darkling wide !",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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          "ref": "1812, Mary Tighe, Written for her niece S.K., in B. George Ulizio, editor, Psyche: with other poems, Stanza 4:",
          "text": "May thine autumn calm, serene, / Never want some lingering flower, / Which Affection's hand may glean, / Though the darkling mists may lower !",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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          ],
          "ref": "1867, Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach::",
          "text": "And we are here as on a darkling plain\nSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,\nWhere ignorant armies clash by night",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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          ],
          "ref": "1876, Heinrich Heine, translated by Thomas Selby Egan, Atta Troll and Other Poems, London: Chapman and Hall, […], page 165:",
          "text": "The air is cool and it’s darkling, / And calmly flows the Rhine; / The mountain tops are sparkling / In sunset’s parting shrine.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              132,
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 140:",
          "text": "To us and to an observer about Ripley it would have had precisely the same effect the Martians seemed in solitary possession of the darkling night, lit only as it was by the slender moon, the stars, the after-glow of the daylight[.]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Dark; growing dark; darkening."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Dark",
          "dark"
        ],
        [
          "darkening",
          "darkening"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(poetic) Dark; growing dark; darkening."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable",
        "poetic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Obscure; taking place unseen, as if in the dark."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Obscure",
          "obscure"
        ],
        [
          "unseen",
          "unseen"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Obscure; taking place unseen, as if in the dark."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/",
      "note": "Etymology 3"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav.mp3",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "John Keats"
  ],
  "word": "darkling"
}

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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
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    "English non-lemma forms",
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    "Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/2 syllables"
  ],
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  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
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        "2": "darkle",
        "3": "-ing",
        "id2": "participial"
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      "expansion": "darkle + -ing",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darkle + -ing, darkle itself a backformation from Tighe's adjectival sense.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "darkling (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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    {
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        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with rare senses"
      ],
      "examples": [
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1909, H.G. Wells, Chapter the First: The Stick of the Rocket, in Tono-Bungay, Book the Fourth: The Aftermath of Tono-Bungay:",
          "text": "She carried some rugs for me through the shrubbery in the darkling. \"They'll think we've gone mooning,\" she said, jerking her head at the household. \"I wonder what they make of us – criminals.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Darkness."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Darkness",
          "darkness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(rare) Darkness."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "rare",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/",
      "note": "Etymology 3"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "darkling"
}

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    "Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/2 syllables"
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  "etymology_templates": [
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      "args": {
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        "id2": "participial"
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    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From darkle + -ing, darkle itself a backformation from Tighe's adjectival sense.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb form"
      },
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "form_of": [
        {
          "word": "darkle"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "present participle and gerund of darkle"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "darkle",
          "darkle#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "form-of",
        "gerund",
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/",
      "note": "Etymology 3"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav.mp3",
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    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "darkling"
}

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    "Rhymes:English/ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/2 syllables"
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  "etymology_number": 4,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "dark",
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        "id2": "diminutive"
      },
      "expansion": "dark + -ling",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From dark + -ling.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "darklings",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "darkling (plural darklings)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "attestations": [
        {
          "date": "from 18th c.",
          "references": []
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A child of darkness; someone dark by nature or who has grown dark in character."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) A child of darkness; someone dark by nature or who has grown dark in character."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Fantasy"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A creature that lives in the dark."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fantasy",
          "fantasy"
        ],
        [
          "creature",
          "creature"
        ],
        [
          "dark",
          "dark"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(fantasy) A creature that lives in the dark."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "fantasy"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English poetic terms"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A demon."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "demon",
          "demon"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(poetic) A demon."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "poetic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈdɑː(ɹ)k(ə)lɪŋ/",
      "note": "Etymology 3"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-darkling.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/c/c4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-darkling.wav.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "darkling"
}

Download raw JSONL data for darkling meaning in English (12.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.