dusk

English

Dusk at Sutro Baths in San Francisco

Etymology

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.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /dʌsk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌsk

Noun

dusk (plural dusks)

1. A period of time occurring at the end of the day during which the sun sets.
2. A darkish colour.
   • Dryden

     Whose dusk set off the whiteness of the skin.

Synonyms

• sunset
• sundown
• evenfall
• smokefall
• vespers

Antonyms

• dawn

Hyponyms

• gloaming
• twilight

See also

• (times of day) time of day; dawn, morning, noon/midday, afternoon, evening, dusk, night, midnight

Translations

a period of time occurring at the end of the day during which the sun sets

• Armenian: մթնշաղ (hy) (mt'nšaġ), աղջամուղջ (hy) (aġǰamuġǰ)
• Bulgarian: здрач (bg) (zdrač) m, сумрак (bg) (sumrak) m, привечер (bg) (privečer) f
• Catalan: crepuscle (ca) m, capvespre (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 黃昏 (cmn), 黄昏 (cmn) (huánghūn)

• Czech: soumrak (cs) m
• Danish: skumring (da) c
• Dutch: schemering (nl) c
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Ewe: wɔle
• Finnish: iltahämärä (fi), illansuu (fi)
• French: crépuscule (fr) m
• Georgian: მწუხრი (ka) (mcuxri), დაისი (ka) (daisi)
• German: Abenddämmerung (de) f
• Hungarian: alkony (hu), szürkület (hu), esthajnal (hu)
• Icelandic: ljósaskipti (is) f, húm (is) m, rökkur (is) n
• Indonesian: senja (id), sore (id)
• Italian: crepuscolo (it) m, tramonto (it) m

• Japanese: 夕暮れ (ja) (yūgure, ゆうぐれ), 黄昏 (ja) (tasogare, たそがれ; kōkon, こうこん)
• Macedonian: самрак (mk) (sámrak) m, квечерина (mk) (kvečérina) f
• Norwegian: skumring (no) m
• Polish: zmierzch (pl) m
• Portuguese: pôr do sol (pt) m, crepúsculo (pt) m, ocaso (pt)
• Romanian: crepuscul (ro) apus (ro), amurg (ro) n
• Russian: сумерки (ru) (súmerki) f pl
• Scottish Gaelic: ciaradh (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сумрак (sh) m, сутон (sh) m

  Roman: sȕmrāk (sh) m, suton (sh) m

• Spanish: crepúsculo (es) m, ocaso (es) m
• Swedish: skymning (sv) c
• Telugu: మునిమాపు వేళ (te) (munimaapu vaeLa), సాయం సంధ్య (te) (saayaM saMdhya)
• Vietnamese: chạng vạng (vi)
• Volapük: soaralulit (vo)

See also

• crepuscular

Verb

dusk (third-person singular simple present dusks, present participle dusking, simple past and past participle dusked)

1. (intransitive) to begin to lose light or whiteness; to grow dusk
   • Alfred Edward Housman, More Poems, XXXIII, lines 25-27

     I see the air benighted

     And all the dusking dales,

     And lamps in England lighted,

2. (transitive) To make dusk.
   • Holland

     After the sun is up, that shadow which dusketh the light of the moon must needs be under the earth.

Translations

to grow dusk

• Finnish: hämärtää (fi), hämärtyä (fi) (grow dim), pimetä (fi) (grow dark)
• Georgian: შებინდება (ka) (šebindeba)

• Icelandic: rökkva (is), húma (is), dimma (is)
• Romanian: însera (ro), amurgi (ro)

Adjective

dusk (comparative dusker, superlative duskest)

1. Tending to darkness or blackness; moderately dark or black; dusky.
   • Milton

     A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades.

Anagrams

• skud