Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Hidden; secret; private.
- To hide; secrete, as in a hole.
- To hide one's self; skulk.
- noun Same as
dearn . - Same as
darn , a minced form ofdamn . Also writtendurn .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Local Eng. A gatepost or doorpost.
- adjective obsolete Hidden; concealed; secret.
- adjective obsolete Solitary; sad.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
Hidden ;secret ;private . - noun A
secret ;secrecy . - noun A secret place;
hiding . - noun An
obscure language . - noun
Darkness ;obscurity . - verb transitive To hide; secrete, as in a hole.
- verb intransitive To hide oneself; skulk.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The 1789 quotation is from Webster, who takes darn as in darn sweet to be descended from the older word dern, originally meaning
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Some kind of dern Noah, gathering up critters two by two? sophisticated Joe Walker asked.
The Berrybender Narratives Larry McMurtry 2004
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I longs to jest call the dern'd fellow out into the bushes, and ax him for a showing of his pockets. "
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Libraries can be confusing places — what with all those dern ideas and books and things.
A Progressive on the Prairie » Weekend Edition: 2-20 » Print 2010
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This time more than in his 2002 campaign Barnes is much more engaged in what you call retail fund raising, and doing a dern good job so far.
The Sounds of Ka-Ching coming from the Barnes HQ (Blog for Democracy) 2010
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He dismissed the idea that raising taxes alone might help erase the deficit, saying "raising taxes doesn't do a dern thing" to address health care costs that are projected to be a big driver of future fiscal problems.
Bowles Predicts Support for Deficit Deal Damian Paletta 2011
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However, Republicans are still upset about Pelosi, Health Care Reform, Clinton, Woodstock, the internet, paying ANY taxes, not having enough guns, Obama's first presidential order to ban all guns, their definition of Socialism being at odds with the actual definition and that that dern rap Music.
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Libraries can be confusing places — what with all those dern ideas and books and things.
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One would think he would've been traumatized but the dern thing decided he liked it.
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One would think he would've been traumatized but the dern thing decided he liked it.
Gammerstang commented on the word dern
(adjective) - Of actions proceeding in secret, or in the dark; kept concealed; hence of evil or deceitful nature. Of persons, secret in purpose or action; reserved; hence, underhand, sly, crafty. Of a person, treated as a confidant; entrusted with hidden matters. Of places, serving well to conceal, as lying out of the way.
--Sir James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1897
January 16, 2018