dern
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English dern, derne, from Old English dyrne, dierne (“secret”), from Proto-West Germanic *darnī (“hidden, secret”).
Noun edit
dern (plural derns)
- (obsolete) A secret; secrecy.
- (obsolete) A secret place; hiding.
- (obsolete) An obscure language.
- (obsolete) Darkness; obscurity.
Derived terms edit
Etymology 2 edit
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 edit
dern (comparative more dern, superlative most dern)
- (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 edit
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 edit
dern (third-person singular simple present derns, present participle derning, simple past and past participle derned)
- (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.
- (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 edit
Etymology 4 edit
Uncertain.
Noun edit
dern (plural derns)
- (UK) 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 […]
- 1855, Charles Kingsley, Westward Ho!, Ch. XIV, How Salvation Yeo Slew the King of the Gubbings
Anagrams edit
Lower Sorbian edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Inherited from Proto-Slavic *dьrnъ.
Noun edit
dern m inan (diminutive dernyšk)
Further reading edit
- Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “dern”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
- Starosta, Manfred (1999) “dern”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag
Old Irish edit
Verb edit
·dern