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).
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
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.