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Blacken

//ˈblækən// verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To cause to be or become black. causative, transitive

    "Iron and coal were the magnets that drew railways to this land of lovely valleys and silent mountains—for such it was a century-and-a-half ago, before man blackened the valleys with the smoke of his forges, scarred the green hills with his shafts and waste-heaps, and drove the salmon from the quiet Rhondda and the murmuring Taff."

  2. 2
    make or become black wordnet
  3. 3
    To become black. ergative, intransitive

    "The sky blackened as the storm clouds rolled in."

  4. 4
    burn slightly and superficially so as to affect color wordnet
  5. 5
    To make dirty. causative, transitive
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    To defame or sully.
  2. 7
    To cook (meat or fish) by coating with pepper, etc., and quickly searing in a hot pan. transitive

Etymology

From Middle English blaknen, blakkenen, equivalent to black + -en (verbal suffix).

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