• IPA: /ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/

darkling (plural darklings)

1. (fantasy) A creature that lives in the dark.

• IPA: /ˈdɑː(ɹ)klɪŋ/

darkling (not comparable)

1. In the dark; in obscurity.
   • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act 1, scene 4]:

     So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 3”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     As the wakeful bird sings darkling.

• IPA: /ˈdɑː(ɹ)kəlɪŋ/

darkling (plural darklings)

1. Darkness

darkling (not comparable)

1. (poetic) Dark; darkening.
   • 1867, Matthew Arnold, Dover Beach:

     And we are here as on a darkling plain

     Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,

     Where ignorant armies clash by night

2. (figurative) Obscure; taking place unseen, as if in the dark.

1. present participle of darkle#English|darkle