i Register
In some senses, dern is marked as obsolete, UK. Watch for register when choosing this word.
dern
/ˈdɜː(ɹ)n/
noun 5verb 2adj 1name 1
Collocations
2ADJ.
dark, light
PREP.
from
Definitions
noun
1
A secret; secrecy.
2
A secret place; hiding.
3
An obscure language.
4
Darkness; obscurity.
adj
1
Hidden; secret; private.
Now with their backs to the den's mouth they sit, / Yet shoulder not all light from the dern pit.
Through dreary beds of tangled fern, / Through groves of nightshade dark and dern.
verb
1
To hide; secrete, as in a hole.
He at length escaped them by derning himself in a fox-earth.
2
To hide oneself; skulk.
But look how soon they heard of Holoferne / Their courage quail'd, and they began to derne.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
501
Now with their backs to the den's mouth they sit, / Yet shoulder not all light from the dern pit.
Wiktionary02
Through dreary beds of tangled fern, / Through groves of nightshade dark and dern.
Wiktionary03
He at length escaped them by derning himself in a fox-earth.
Wiktionary04
But look how soon they heard of Holoferne / Their courage quail'd, and they began to derne.
Wiktionary05
1855, Charles Kingsley, Westward Ho!, Ch. XIV, How Salvation Yeo Slew the King of the Gubbings So I just put my eye between the wall and the dern of the gate, and I saw him come up to the back door […
WiktionaryUsage Notes
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