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cark

verb \ ˈkärk \

Definition of cark

-ed/-ing/-s
transitive verb
: to burden with care or anxiety : vex, worry, trouble
  • fate had not smiled on him … he was beset by carking troubles and anxieties
  • —Max Beerbohm
intransitive verb
1 : to be anxious or troubled : fret
  • a covetous man … carking about his bags
  • —Isaac Barrow
2 : to labor anxiously
  • why for sluggards cark and moil?
  • —Charles Kingsley

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Origin and Etymology of cark

Middle English carken, literally, to load, burden, from Old North French carquier, from Late Latin carricare

2

cark

noun \ " \

Definition of cark

plural -s
1 : something that burdens the spirit : trouble
  • its artless advocacy of freedom from cark and care
  • —Harper's
2 : a troubled state of mind : distress
  • by cark and care deranged
  • —Robert Browning

Origin and Etymology of cark

Middle English, literally, load, burden, from Old North French carque, from carquier, verb

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