English Explanatory Dictionary

dusk

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Tending to darkness or blackness; moderately dark or black; dusky.
noun
  1. The time after the sun has set but when the sky is still lit by sunlight; the evening twilight period.
  2. A darkish colour.
  3. The condition of being dusky; duskiness
verb
  1. To begin to lose light or whiteness; to grow dusk.
  2. To make dusk.

Pronunciation

/dʌsk/ en-us-dusk.ogg /dʊsk/

Word forms

dusk dusker duskest dusks dusking dusked

Etymology

From Middle English dosk, dusk(e) (“dusky”, adj.), from Old English dox (“dark, swarthy”), from Proto-Germanic *duskaz (“dark, smoky”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwes-, related to *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, mist, haze”). Cognate to Latin fuscus (“dark, dusky”), Sanskrit धूसर (dhūsara, “dust-colored”), Old Irish donn (“dark”). Related to dye, dust and dun (see these for more).

Synonyms

nightfall smokefall vespers cockshut crepusculum dark dimmity duckish dusk mirkning night sun sundown sunset evenfall

Antonyms

dawn daybreak

Related words

early morning first light postdawn morning midday afternoon midnight in .

Derived words

adusk duskdarter dusk-flat duskhawk duskish duskless dusklight duskly duskness dusktime predusk
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on D Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary