Stark

Pronunciation

• enPR: stärk, IPA: /stɑː(r)k/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)k

From Middle English stark, starc, from Old English stearc, starc ("stiff, obstinate, severe, etc."), from Proto-Germanic *starkaz, *starkuz ("stiff, strong"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terg- ("rigid, stiff"). Cognate with Eastern Frisian sterc ("strong"), Dutch sterk ("strong"), Low German sterk ("strong"), German stark ("strong"), Danish stærk ("strong"), Swedish stark ("strong"), Icelandic sterkur ("strong"). Related to starch.

Modifying naked, an alternation of original start ("tail").

Full definition of stark

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Hard, firm; obdurate.
2. Severe; violent; fierce (now usually in describing the weather).
• 2013-05-11, The climate of Tibet: Pole-land, Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.
3. (rare) Strong; vigorous; powerful.
• Sir Walter Scotta stark, moss-trooping Scot
• Beaumont and FletcherStark beer, boy, stout and strong beer.
4. Stiff, rigid.
• SpenserWhose senses all were straight benumbed and stark.
• ShakespeareMany a nobleman lies stark and stiff
  Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies.
• Ben JonsonThe north is not so stark and cold.
5. Hard in appearance; barren, desolate.I picked my way forlornly through the stark, sharp rocks.
6. Complete, absolute, full.I screamed in stark terror.A flower was growing, in stark contrast, out of the sidewalk.
• Ben JonsonConsider the stark security
  The common wealth is in now.
• CollierHe pronounces the citation stark nonsense.
• SeldenRhetoric is very good or stark naught; there's no medium in rhetoric.

Derived terms

• starken

Adverb

1. starkly; entirely, absolutelyHe's gone stark, staring mad.She was just standing there, stark naked.
• Fuller... held him strangled in his arms till he was stark dead.
• 1913, w, Lord Stranleigh Abroad Chapter 4, “… That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. Her own father recognised it when he bereft her of all power in the great business he founded. …”

Usage notes

In standard modern English, the adverb is essentially restricted to stark naked and phrases meaning "crazy" on the pattern of stark raving mad.

From Middle English starken, from Old English stearcian ("to stiffen, become hard, grow stiff or hard"), from Proto-Germanic *starkōną, *starkēną ("to stiffen, become hard"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terg- ("rigid, stiff"). Cognate with German erstarken ("to strengthen").

Verb

1. (obsolete or dialect) To stiffen.

Related terms

• starkish
• starkly
• starkers

Anagrams

• karst, Karst
• karts