darks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of dark.

   Sort the laundry so the darks don't bleed color onto the whites.

   The artist built the figure's form from a careful balance of lights and darks.

   Note

   Most senses of the noun refuse a plural: the absence of light, ignorance and nightfall are usually uncountable, so nobody speaks of "darks" in those meanings. The plural lives where shades can be counted, in the dark passages of a painting or engraving set against its lights. By the same logic, it names the dark-colored garments sorted away from the whites on laundry day.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of dark.

   Note

   A single -s form serves three different uses of the verb. Used transitively, it means makes dark or obscures, as when dusk darks the moor. Used intransitively, it can mean grows dark, as in the sky darks toward evening. It can also mean lies hidden: something that darks is lurking or keeping concealed. Darken fits either of the first two uses, but not the third.

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