Nark
noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 A police spy or informer. Ireland, UK, slang
"So I went and laid down on the grass. While laying there I piped a reeler whom I knew. He had a nark (a policeman's spy) with him. So I went and looked about for my two pals, and told them to look out for F. and his nark."
- 2 Alternative form of narc (narcotics officer). alt-of, alternative, slang
- 3 a lawman concerned with narcotics violations wordnet
- 4 An unpleasant person, especially one who makes things difficult for others. Australia, slang
- 5 an informer or spy working for the police wordnet
- 1 To serve or behave as a spy or informer; to tattle. intransitive, slang, transitive
"“If you nark on me, I’ll rip your arms off,” said Tim to his brother, as he passed him a joint."
- 2 inform or spy (for the police) wordnet
- 3 To annoy or irritate. slang, transitive
"It really narks me when people smoke in restaurants."
- 4 cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations wordnet
- 5 To complain. intransitive, slang
"He narks in my ear all day, moaning about his problems."
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- 6 To stop. imperative, often, slang, transitive
"Nark it! I hear someone coming!"
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"So I went and laid down on the grass. While laying there I piped a reeler whom I knew. He had a nark (a policeman's spy) with him. So I went and looked about for my two pals, and told them to look out for F. and his nark."
Etymology
Uncertain. Perhaps from Angloromani nok (“nose”), from Romani nakh, from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀡𑀓𑁆𑀓 (ṇakka), ultimately a doublet of nose.
See narc.
Related phrases
More for "nark"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.