From Middle English merke, mirke, from Old English mirce, myrce (“dark, gloomy, evil”) and Old Norse myrkr (“dark, murky”), both from Proto-Germanic *merkuz (“dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *mergʷ- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”). Cognate Danish mørk (“dark”), Norwegian mørk (“dark”), Swedish mörk (“dark”), Icelandic myrkur (“dark”), as also Albanian murg (“dark”), Proto-Slavic *morkъ (“darkness”), Lithuanian márgas (“multicolored”), murzinas (“dirty, spoiled”), Ancient Greek ἀμορβός (amorbós, “dark”).
Meanings
Dark, murky.
He cannot see through the mantle murk. 1835, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay:
From Middle English mirke, merke, from Old English mirce, myrce (“darkness, gloom”) and Old Norse myrkr (“darkness, gloom”), both from Proto-Germanic *merkwą, *mirkwiz (“darkness”), Proto-Indo-European *mergʷ- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”).
Meanings
(uncountable) Darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment.
And yet, tiny sparks of hope gleam in this dim existence, like pearls in the murk. 2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Twilight Town:
O great star disappear’d—O the black murk that hides the star! 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:
[…]in murk and occidental damp c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
uk морок (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · uk темрява (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · ru мрак (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · ru тьма (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · cs šero (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · pl mrok (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · cs temnota (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · bg мрак (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · cs tma (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · ru темнота́ (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · uk пітьма (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · cs temno (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment) · pl ciemność (darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment)
From Middle English mirken, probably from Old Norse myrkja, myrkva (“to make dark, darken”), from Proto-Germanic *mirkwijaną, *mirkwajaną (“to make dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *mergʷ- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”).
Meanings
(intransitive) To make murky or be murky; to cloud or obscure, or to be clouded or obscured.
Dawn had been murking through the smoky windows, growing stronger for half an hour... 1918, Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons:
Forms
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murking
Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part
lexicographic
murks
Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres
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murked
Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part
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murked
Tense=Past
lexicographic
Translations (5)
ru затмевать (to make murky or to be murky) · pl mętnieć (to make murky or to be murky) · bg затъмнявам (to make murky or to be murky) · es enturbiar (to make murky or to be murky) · pl zmętnieć (to make murky or to be murky)
Possibly an alteration of merc, from clipping of mercenary. First attested in the 1990s.
Meanings
(ambitransitive, slang) To kill or eliminate.
That's why he was able to catch Crush out there sleeping and why he murked him before he could ask him any questions. 2010, Dana Dane, Numbers, page 232:
In truth, there are Easter eggs planted in just about every frame of Ready Player One, which never misses an opportunity to insert a recognizable character (hey, is that Jason Voorhees getting merked during the film’s first-person shooter level?) or toss a sop to the faithful. 2018 March 26, A. A. Dowd, “Steven Spielberg Finds Fun, and maybe even a Soul, in the Pandering Pastiche of Ready Player One”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 31 May 2018:
that 1 fag in there got my pistol confiscated, I got plenty of other guns but I want to murk that cocksucker 2011 August 31, Justin Kemble, quotee, “Feds Consulted Urban Dictionary In Threat Case”, in The Smoking Gun:
(ambitransitive, slang) To beat up; to injure.
Yas (Vivian Oparah): And where is this, uh, summit of doom taking place?
Dom (David Jonsson): Il Giardino. There. Used to be "our" place.
Yas: No. Absolutely not. Text her, you can't make it. We'll go to Laser Quest, merk some eight-year-olds. 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane:
He clowned Sticks, and Sticks murked him for no reason. And I don't know for sure, but I think he murked Trail. 2011, Treasure Hernandez, Baltimore Chronicles, volume 2:
cause we be murkin from the boogie
And shittin on the crowds
'cause they jive fakin woody. 1991, Camp Lo, Coolie High:
(ambitransitive, slang) To eliminate; to defeat overwhelmingly.
POV: You're about to get murked by two of Philly's finest on the court. | @myteamtoyota 2022 March 5, NBC Sports PhiladelphiaTwitter: