Cark
name, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A noxious or corroding worry. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"His heauie head, deuoide of carefull carke, / Whose sences all were straight benumbd and starke."
- 2 The state of being filled with worry. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 1 To be filled with worry, solicitude, or troubles. intransitive, obsolete
"[W]ho vvould not rather Sleep Quietly upon a Hammock, vvithout either Cares in his Head, or Crudities in his Stomach, then lye Carking upon a Bed of State, vvith the Qualms and Tvvinges that accompany Surfeits and Exceſs?"
- 2 Pronunciation spelling of caulk. alt-of, pronunciation-spelling
- 3 disturb in mind or make uneasy or cause to be worried or alarmed wordnet
- 4 To bring worry, vexation, or anxiety. intransitive, obsolete, transitive
"Carnal pleasures are the sins of youth: ambition and the love of power, the sins of middle age: covetousness and carking cares, the crimes of old age."
- 5 To labor anxiously. archaic, intransitive
"Why for sluggards cark and moil?"
- 1 A village in Lower Holker parish, South Lakeland district, Cumbria, England (OS grid ref SD3676).
Example
More examples"[W]ho vvould not rather Sleep Quietly upon a Hammock, vvithout either Cares in his Head, or Crudities in his Stomach, then lye Carking upon a Bed of State, vvith the Qualms and Tvvinges that accompany Surfeits and Exceſs?"
Etymology
From Middle English carken (“to be anxious, worry”, intransitive), from Old English *carcian ("to be sorrowful, worry"; found in becarcian (“to worry about, care for”)), a frequentative form of Old English carian (“to care”), equivalent to care + -k. The Middle English carken, also charken (“to load (sth.); to bear (crops); to burden, harass”, transitive), from Old Northern French carquier (“to load, burden”), from Latin carricāre (“to load”), related to Old French chargier (“to load”), is a different word often confused with the above.
From Middle English cark, kark (“worry”), from Old English carc (“sorrow, worry”).
From caulk.
Related phrases
More for "cark"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.