Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The darker stage of twilight, especially in the evening.
  • adjective Tending to darkness; dusky.
  • intransitive & transitive verb To become or make dark or dusky.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make dusky or dark; obscure; make less luminous.
  • To make dim.
  • To grow dark; begin to lose light, brightness, or whiteness.
  • To cause a dusky appearance; produce a slightly ruffled or shadowed surface.
  • Dark; tending to darkness; dusky; shaded, either as to light or color; shadowy; swarthy.
  • noun Partial darkness; an obscuring of light, especially of the light of day; a state between light and darkness; twilight: as, the dusk of the evening; the dusk of a dense forest.
  • noun Tendency to darkness of color; swarthiness.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Tending to darkness or blackness; moderately dark or black; dusky.
  • noun Imperfect obscurity; a middle degree between light and darkness; twilight.
  • noun A darkish color.
  • transitive verb Archaic To make dusk.
  • intransitive verb rare To grow dusk.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A period of time occurring at the end of the day during which the sun sets.
  • verb intransitive to begin to lose light or whiteness; to grow dusk

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the time of day immediately following sunset
  • verb become dusk

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Middle English, dark, alteration of Old English dox.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English dosk, duske (adj., "dusky"), from Old English dox ("dark, swarthy"), from Proto-Germanic *duskaz (“dark, smoky”), from Proto-Indo-European *dhūs (cf. Old Irish donn 'dark', Latin fuscus 'dark, dusky', Sanskrit dhūsaras 'dust-colored'), from *dhū, dheu- 'to smoke, dust'. More at dye. Related to dust.

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Examples

  • You can also try your hand at paddling through Kayak Pittsburgh, which offers free kayaking 4 p.m. to dusk Monday-Friday in Lake Elizabeth on Pittsburgh's North Side, near the National Aviary (10 a. m.-dusk Saturday and Sunday, $5 per boat).

    post-gazette.com - News 2010

  • COME, for the dusk is our own; let us fare forth together,

    The Watchman and Other Poems Lucy Maud 1916

  • Its impressive network of canals may lack the gondolas of its Italian sister, but the view at dusk is pretty and romantic while standing on any number of foot paths and bridges dotting the city.

    Magda Abu-Fadil: The Other Face of Hamburg (PHOTOS) Magda Abu-Fadil 2010

  • The sound of birdsong in the brief dusk is a shock, an exotic reminder of lazy summer evenings long past.

    Susannah's Journal skittledog 2009

  • Its impressive network of canals may lack the gondolas of its Italian sister, but the view at dusk is pretty and romantic while standing on any number of foot paths and bridges dotting the city.

    Magda Abu-Fadil: The Other Face of Hamburg (PHOTOS) Magda Abu-Fadil 2010

  • Its impressive network of canals may lack the gondolas of its Italian sister, but the view at dusk is pretty and romantic while standing on any number of foot paths and bridges dotting the city.

    Magda Abu-Fadil: The Other Face of Hamburg (PHOTOS) Magda Abu-Fadil 2010

  • Even when dusk is descending, he is never ready to leave.

    Chet of Arabia 2010

  • The sound of birdsong in the brief dusk is a shock, an exotic reminder of lazy summer evenings long past.

    skittledog: January skittledog 2009

  • Even when dusk is descending, he is never ready to leave.

    Chet of Arabia 2010

  • Its impressive network of canals may lack the gondolas of its Italian sister, but the view at dusk is pretty and romantic while standing on any number of foot paths and bridges dotting the city.

    Magda Abu-Fadil: The Other Face of Hamburg (PHOTOS) Magda Abu-Fadil 2010

Comments

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  • How many shades of dusk? A brazillion, I'd say.

    October 17, 2007

  • Dusk just reminds me of softness and secrets.

    December 16, 2010