darn

See also: darń

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /dɑɹn/
• (New England) IPA^(key): /daːn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɑːn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)n

Etymology 1

A minced oath of damn.

Adjective

darn (not comparable)

1. (euphemistic) Damn.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:damned

Derived terms

• darn tootin'

Translations

damn — see damn

Adverb

darn (not comparable)

1. (degree, euphemistic) Damned.

Interjection

darn

1. (euphemistic) Damn.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:dammit

Derived terms

• darn tootin'

Translations

damn — see damn

Verb

darn (third-person singular simple present darns, present participle darning, simple past and past participle darned)

1. (transitive) Euphemism of damn.

Synonyms

• dang
• damn

Translations

damn — see damn

Etymology 2

From Middle English dernen (“to keep secret, hide, conceal (a hole)”), from Old English diernan (“to hide, conceal”), from dyrne, dierne (“secret”), from Proto-West Germanic *darnī (“hidden, secret”).

Verb

Darning

darn (third-person singular simple present darns, present participle darning, simple past and past participle darned)

1. (transitive, sewing) To repair by stitching with thread or yarn, particularly by using a needle to construct a weave across a damaged area of fabric.

   I need to darn these socks again.

   • c. 1703-1720, Jonathan Swift, An Essay on the Fates of Clergymen

     He spent every day ten hours in his closet, in darning his stockings.

Usage notes

Predominantly used to described repairs to stockings or socks. The frequency of references to both follows their general prominence with references to stockings being more historically prominent and references to socks being more recently prominent.

Related terms

• darning needle

Translations

stitch with thread

• Bulgarian: замрежвам (bg) (zamrežvam), закърпвам (bg) (zakǎrpvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 織補 (zh), 织补 (zh) (zhībǔ), 縫補 (zh), 缝补 (zh) (féngbǔ)

• Czech: štupovat
• Dutch: stoppen (nl)
• Finnish: parsia (fi)
• French: repriser (fr)
• Galician: zurcir (gl)
• Georgian: კემსვა (ḳemsva), ნემსვა (nemsva)
• German: stopfen (de)
• Greek: μαντάρω (el) (mantáro)
• Hungarian: stoppol (hu)
• Ido: darnar (io)

• Irish: dearnáil
• Italian: rammendare (it)
• Japanese: かがる (kagaru), 繕う (ja) (つくろう, tsukurou)
• Norman: dèrner
• Polish: cerować (pl) impf, zacerować pf
• Portuguese: remendar (pt)
• Russian: што́пать (ru) impf (štópatʹ)
• Sanskrit: सीव्यति (sa) (sī́vyati)
• Slovak: štopkať
• Spanish: zurcir (es), surcir (es)
• Swedish: stoppa (sv)
• Ukrainian: церувати (uk) (ceruvaty), зацеровувати (zacerovuvaty), зацерувати pf (zaceruvaty)
• Vietnamese: mạng (vi)

Noun

darn (plural darns)

1. A place mended by darning.

Further reading

• Darning on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• -andr-, DNAR, DNRA, Nard, RAND, Rand, andr-, nard, rDNA, rand, rdna