murk

Etymology 1

From Middle English merke, mirke, from Old English mirce, myrce (“dark, gloomy, evil”) and Old Norse myrkr (“dark, murky”), both from Proto-Germanic *merkuz (“dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *mergʷ- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”). Cognate Danish mørk (“dark”), Norwegian mørk (“dark”), Swedish mörk (“dark”), Icelandic myrkur (“dark”), as also Albanian murg (“dark”), Proto-Slavic *morkъ (“darkness”), Lithuanian márgas (“multicolored”), Ancient Greek ἀμορβός (amorbós, “dark”).

adj

1. Dark, murky.
   He cannot see through the mantle murk. 1835, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay

Etymology 2

From Middle English mirke, merke, from Old English mirce, myrce (“darkness, gloom”) and Old Norse myrkr (“darkness, gloom”), both from Proto-Germanic *merkwą, *mirkwiz (“darkness”), Proto-Indo-European *mergʷ- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”).

noun

1. Darkness, or a dark or gloomy environment.

Etymology 3

From Middle English mirken, probably from Old Norse myrkja, myrkva (“to make dark, darken”), from Proto-Germanic *mirkwijaną, *mirkwajaną (“to make dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *mergʷ- (“to flicker; to darken; to be dark”).

verb

1. To make murky or be murky; to cloud or obscure, or to be clouded or obscured.
   Dawn had been murking through the smoky windows, growing stronger for half an hour... 1918, Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons

Etymology 4

Possibly an alteration of merc, from clipping of mercenary.

verb

1. (African-American Vernacular, MLE) To murder or seriously injure.
   cause we be murkin from the boogie And shittin on the crowds 1991, Camp Lo, Coolie High
   That's why he was able to catch Crush out there sleeping and why he murked him before he could ask him any questions. 2010, Dana Dane, Numbers, page 232
   He clowned Sticks, and Sticks murked him for no reason. And I don't know for sure, but I think he murked Trail. 2011, Treasure Hernandez, Baltimore Chronicles, volume 2
   In truth, there are Easter eggs planted in just about every frame of Ready Player One, which never misses an opportunity to insert a recognizable character (hey, is that Jason Voorhees getting merked during the film’s first-person shooter level?) or toss a sop to the faithful. 26 March 2018, A. A. Dowd, “Steven Spielberg Finds Fun, and maybe even a Soul, in the Pandering Pastiche of Ready Player One”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2018-05-31
   Yas (Vivian Oparah): And where is this, uh, summit of doom taking place? Dom (David Jonsson): Il Giardino. There. Used to be "our" place. Yas: No. Absolutely not. Text her, you can't make it. We'll go to Laser Quest, merk some eight-year-olds. 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia, directed by Raine Allen-Miller, Rye Lane