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dusk

DUSK/dʌsk/

5 meanings of dusk

Practice

  1. 1
    after sunsetnoununcountable
    The period after sunset when the sky stays lit by fading sunlight; the evening twilight.

    Bats began to appear at dusk, flitting between the trees.

    We packed up the picnic as dusk settled over the valley.

    UsageUsually with no article: at dusk, before dusk, from dawn to dusk.

    Similartwilight, nightfall, sundown, gloaming

    Oppositedawn, daybreak, sunrise

  2. 2
    gloomnoununcountable
    The quality or condition of being dusky; duskiness.

    The dusk of the cavern deepened as they ventured further inside.

    A gathering dusk filled the hall once the lamps were extinguished.

    Similargloom, darkness, dimness, murk

    Oppositebrightness, light

  3. 3
    dark colornoununcountable
    A somewhat dark color or shade.
    Whose dusk set off the whiteness of the skin.
    1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite”
    Note

    Dryden uses it for a skin tone in "Palamon and Arcite" (Fables Ancient and Modern, 1700): "Whose dusk set off the whiteness of the skin." In that line the noun names a dark tone set against a pale one. That is how to tell it from the general state of dimness: this dusk belongs to a surface, while the other fills a space.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Dryden's Palamon and Arcite appeared in Fables Ancient and Modern, first published in 1700. en.wikipedia.org
    • The first-edition title page dates Fables Ancient and Modern to 1700. en.wikisource.org
    • The quoted line describes the darkness of freckles contrasting with white skin. en.wikisource.org

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    adjectivearchaic
    Moderately dark or nearly black; tending toward darkness.
    A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades.
    1671, John Milton, “The First Book”
  2. 5
    verbrare
    To grow dim or dark, or to make something dim or dark.
    I see the air benighted And all the dusking dales, And lamps in England lighted,
    1936, Alfred Edward Housman, More Poems

Practice

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Origin

The word goes back to a Proto-Indo-European root tied to smoke and mist, which gave Proto-Germanic *duskaz (dark, smoky) and Old English dox (dark, swarthy). That became Middle English dosk, dusk(e) (dusky). Relatives include Sanskrit dhūsara (dust-colored), Latin fuscus (dark, dusky), and the English words dye, dust, and dun.