I. ˈkärk verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English carken, literally, to load, burden, from Old North French carquier, from Late Latin carricare — more at charge
transitive verb
: to burden with care or anxiety : vex , worry , trouble
fate had not smiled on him … he was beset by carking troubles and anxieties — Max Beerbohm
intransitive verb
1. : to be anxious or troubled : fret
a covetous man … carking about his bags — Isaac Barrow
2. : to labor anxiously
why for sluggards cark and moil? — Charles Kingsley
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, literally, load, burden, from Old North French carque, from carquier, v.
1. : something that burdens the spirit : trouble
its artless advocacy of freedom from cark and care — Harper's
2. : a troubled state of mind : distress
by cark and care deranged — Robert Browning