dern

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɜː(ɹ)n/

Alternative forms

• dearn, darn

Etymology 1

From Middle English dern, derne, from Old English dyrne, dierne (“secret”), from Proto-West Germanic *darnī (“hidden, secret”).

Noun

dern (plural derns)

1. (obsolete) A secret; secrecy.
2. (obsolete) A secret place; hiding.
3. (obsolete) An obscure language.
4. (obsolete) Darkness; obscurity.

Derived terms

• in dern

Etymology 2

From Middle English dern, derne, from Old English dyrne, dierne (“hidden, secret, retired, obscure, remote, eluding detection, concealed, deceitful, evil, magical”), from Proto-West Germanic *darnī (“hidden, secret”).

Adjective

dern (comparative more dern, superlative most dern)

1. (obsolete, dialectal) Hidden; secret; private.
   • 1659, Dr. H. More, Immortal, of the Soul

     Now with their backs to the den's mouth they sit, / Yet shoulder not all light from the dern pit.

   • 1819, J. R. Drake, The Culprit Fay

     Through dreary beds of tangled fern, / Through groves of nightshade dark and dern.

Etymology 3

From Middle English dernen, dærnen, from Old English dyrnan, diernan (“to keep secret, conceal, hide, restrain, repress, hide oneself”), from Proto-West Germanic *darnijan (“to conceal”), from *darnī (“hidden, secret”). Cognate with Old Saxon dernian (“to conceal”), German tarnen (“to camougflage, disguise”). See also darn, tarnish.

Verb

dern (third-person singular simple present derns, present participle derning, simple past and past participle derned)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To hide; secrete, as in a hole.
   • 1865, Hugh Miller, My schools and schoolmasters

     He at length escaped them by derning himself in a fox-earth.

2. (intransitive, obsolete) To hide oneself; skulk.
   • 1584, Thomas Hudson, Judith

     But look how soon they heard of Holoferne / Their courage quail'd, and they began to derne.

Related terms

• darn
• tarnish

Etymology 4

Uncertain.

Noun

dern (plural derns)

1. (Britain) A gatepost or doorpost.
   • 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 […]

Anagrams

• NERD, nerd, rend

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Old Irish

Verb

·dern

1. first-person singular present subjunctive prototonic ro-form of do·gní