naked

Etymology 1

From Middle English naked, from Old English nacod, from Proto-West Germanic *nak(k)wad, from Proto-Germanic *nakwadaz, from Proto-Indo-European *negʷ- (“naked”).

adj

1. Bare, not covered by clothing.
   She was as naked as the day she was born.
   Kruban is a tidally-locked Venusian hothouse, its surface perpetually obscured by clouds of sulfur and carbon dioxides.[…] Every year, a few krogan attempt to land on Kruban and exit their ships naked in an attempt to prove their "kroganhood." The planet's surface is littered with the crushed, corroded remains of their ships. Only one, Shath Norda, is known to have returned from the surface alive, albeit with most of his bones crushed and all four of his lungs damaged by sulfuric gas. 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Kruban
2. (obsolete) Lacking some clothing; clothed only in underwear.
   For no body would staye to give them intelligence, the countrey people running evry wher out of ther waye, and some of them flying out of ther bedds nacked in their shirts, who runne to the neerest rockes on the sea syde; so formidable was ther very name. 1680, James Gordon, History of Scots Affairs
3. Glib, without decoration, put bluntly.
   This is the naked truth.
   The naked facts lay there on the table, enclosed within the files.
   And after the past few days, in which a fleet of Republicans and the president himself have utilized Jews as human shields for racist rhetoric, the Jews are tired, tired, tired of being used as defenses against naked racism, tired of being used to justify conditions at detention camps. Just plain tired. 2019-7-17, Talia Lavin, “When Non-Jews Wield Anti-Semitism as Political Shield”, in GQ
4. Characterized by the nakedness of the people concerned or to whom the described noun is attributed.
   So here I went the first time into a naked bed, only my drawers on; and did sleep pretty well: but still both sleeping and waking had a fear of fire in my heart, that I took little rest. 1666, Samuel Pepys, Diary
   The satirical historian has not blushed to describe the naked scenes which Theodora was not ashamed to exhibit in the theatre. 1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
5. (obsolete) Unarmed.
   You an’t even with me yet, ſays ſhe; I ſcorn as much to take up a Sword againſt a Naked Man; as you ought to have ſcorn’d, if you had been a Gentleman, to give the Lie to a Woman. 1727, Daniel Defoe, An essay on the history and reality of apparitions
6. Unaided, unaccompanied.
   Christ commeth not bare or naked, but clothed and accompanied with all his mercies. 1579, William Wilkinson, A confutation of certaine articles deliuered vnto the Familye of Loue
   If all celestial bodies visible to the naked eye are thus mapped on the celestial sphere, it becomes apparent that the vast majority of them remain in fixed patterns with respect to each other: They form recognizable constellations that, in turn, remain unchangeably distributed. 2001, Asger Aaboe, Episodes From the Early History of Astronomy
7. Unprotected, uncovered; (by extension) without a condom.
   The tendrils of the naked flame stretched into the skies.
   I entered her naked and came in her too.
   Lighting was unimaginative for the standard stock with naked tungsten filament bulbs and metal reflectors. However, all compartments had individual reading lights above the seats with attractive glass shades. 1979 August, Graham Burtenshaw, Michael S. Welch, “O.V.S. Bulleid's SR loco-hauled coaches - 1”, in Railway World, page 398
8. (finance, of a derivative contract) Where the writer (seller) does not own the underlying asset to cover the contract.
   a naked put, a naked call
9. (literary) Lacking resources or means, poor.
   I knowe my self moost naked in al artes, / My comune ne vulgare eke moost interupte, / And I conversaunte and born in the partes / Where my natyfe langage is moost corrupt, / And with most sundry tonges myxt and rupte. 1480, anonymous author, Cura Sapientiæ; or, The Court of Sapience, William Caxton
   I am a poor Man, naked, / Yet ſomething for Remembrance; four a piece, Gentlemen, / And ſo my Body where you pleaſe. c. 1625, John Fletcher, The Humorous Lieutenant
10. (with “of”) Lacking or devoid of something.
    Freewill is made naked of all maner merite. 1581, Walter Haddon, John Foxe, translated by James Bell, Against Ierome Osorius Byshopp of Siluane in Portingall and Against His Slaunderous Inuectiues: An Aunswere Apologeticall: for the Necessary Defence of the Euangelicall Doctrine and Veritie
    Their eyes were opened to ſee their nakedneſſe: naked they were of diuine protection and fauor, naked of Angelicall guard and cuſtodie, naked of Humane puritie and holineſſe, naked of dutifull subiection from the rebelling Creatures; 1619, Samuel Purchas, Purchas his Pilgrim: Microcosmus, or the Historie of Man, relating the Wonders of his Generation, Vanities in his Degeneration, Necessity of His Regeneration
    I have spent about three weeks at home since Dec 1. As always, I am naked of good article ideas—despite my constant involvement with good subjects. 1969, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in America: The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist
11. (obsolete) Blank, clean, empty.
    For in the first it finds the mind naked and unprepossessed with any former notions, and so easily and insensibly gains upon the assent, grows up with it, and incorporates into it. c. 1660, Robert South, Sermon on John vii. 17.
12. (of land, rocks, or plants) Barren, having no foliage, unvegetated.
13. Uncomfortable or vulnerable, as if missing something important.
    I feel naked without my mobile phone.
14. (of food or other consumer products) Without any additives, or without some component that would usually be included.
    a naked burrito (i.e. one without a tortilla); a naked burger (without a bun)
    Naked Bacon (a brand without nitrates or phosphates)
15. (physics, of a singularity) Not hidden within an event horizon and thus observable from other parts of spacetime.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

verb

1. simple past and past participle of nake