Dusk

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /dÊŒsk/
• Rhymes: -ÊŒsk

Origin

From Middle English dosk, duske (adj., "dusky"), from Old English dox ("dark, swarthy"), from Proto-Germanic *duskaz ("dark, smoky"), from Proto-Indo-European *dhūs (cf. Old Irish donn 'dark', Latin fuscus 'dark, dusky', Sanskrit dhūsaras 'dust-colored'), from *dhū, dheu- 'to smoke, dust'. More at dye. Related to dust.

Full definition of dusk

Noun

1. A period of time occurring at the end of the day during which the sun sets.
2. A darkish colour.
• DrydenWhose dusk set off the whiteness of the skin.

Synonyms

• sunset
• sundown
• evenfall
• smokefall
• vespers

Antonyms

• dawn

Hyponyms

• gloaming
• twilight

Verb

1. (intransitive) to begin to lose light or whiteness; to grow dusk
• , More Poems, XXXIII, lines 25-27I see the air benightedAnd all the dusking dales,And lamps in England lighted,
2. (transitive) To make dusk.
• HollandAfter the sun is up, that shadow which dusketh the light of the moon must needs be under the earth.

Adjective

1. Tending to darkness or blackness; moderately dark or black; dusky.
• MiltonA pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades.

Anagrams

• skud