I. ˈdəsk adjective
Etymology: Middle English dosk, duske, alteration of Old English dox; akin to Old English dunn dun, Old High German tusin yellow, Old Saxon dosan chestnut brown, Old Norse dunna, a kind of duck, Middle Irish doun dark, Latin fuscus dark brown, blackish, Sanskrit dhūsara dust colored, Latin fumus smoke — more at fume
: dusky
the dim, dusk yard — Thomas Williams
dusk faces with white silken turbants wreathed — John Milton
called the children in when it grew dusk
Synonyms: see dark
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English dosken, dusken, from dosk, duske, n.
intransitive verb
: to become dusky or dark
in the dusking room — Walter Karig
transitive verb
1. : to make dark or dim
a gray light dusked the room — William Sansom
2. : to darken in mood or spirit : cast gloom upon
his national formality dusked by the saturnine mood of ill health — Herman Melville
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: dusk (I)
1. : the darker part of twilight or of dawn
2.
a. : darkness or semidarkness caused by the shutting out of light
the cool dusk of ancient tombs
the dusk of the great forest
b. : the condition of being dark or darkish in color
ivory skin framed in the silken dusk of her tresses — Kay Rogers
3.
a. : a variable color averaging a bluish gray that is redder and deeper than clair de lune, redder, lighter, and stronger than Medici blue, and redder and deeper than puritan gray
b. : a dark purplish gray that is bluer and duller than slate, redder, lighter, and slightly stronger than charcoal, and bluer and darker than pigeon