lark

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“
I knew he was as happy as a lark, although I realized he was not as free as a bird.

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Definitions (25)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun Any of various chiefly Old World birds of the family Alaudidae, especially the skylark, having a sustained, melodious song.
  2. noun Any of several similar birds, such as the meadowlark.
  3. noun A carefree or spirited adventure.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (11)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (5)

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Examples

  • A., and M., who seems as joyous as a lark, are like Siamese twins, with the advantage of untying at night and sleeping in different beds. —  The Life and Letters of Elizabeth Prentiss
  • I knew he was as happy as a lark, although I realized he was not as free as a bird. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XI No 2
  • His companion was a man who delighted in what he called a lark, and whose only method of insuring a lark was by starting in with whiskey and keeping it up. —  Unleavened Bread
  • It's just that I usually have Maria's notes in front of me. " —  Fatal Tide
  • The half-elf explained what was happening. —  Dragons of Autumn Twilight
 

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Lark has been looked up 673 times, favorited once, listed 33 times, and commented on once.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

blackbird ·  nightingale ·  cuckoo ·  robin ·  sparrow ·  linnet ·  owl ·  jay ·  thrush ·  swan ·  pigeon ·  parrot
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English laveroc, larke, from Old English lāwerce.
  2. Short for skylark, to frolic, or alteration of dialectal lake, play (from Middle English leik, laik, from Old Norse leikr).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English larke, contr. of laverock, laverok, laverokke (later English dial. laverock, lavrock, leverock, laarick), from Anglo-Saxon lāferce, lāuerce, earlier lāwerce, lǣwerce, lāuricae, lāurice = Friesic liurke = Dutch lewerik, leeuwrik, leeuwerik, leeuwerk = Middle Low German lēwerike, lēwerke, Low German lewerke = Old High German *lēwarahha, lērahhā, lērehhā, lērihhā, Middle High German lēwreche, lēwerich, lēwerech, lēwerch, lēreche, German lerche, German dial. löweneckerche = Icelandic lævirki = Old Swedish lærikia, Swedish lärka = Danish lærke, a lark. Origin unknown; the older forms have the semblance of a contracted compound, but no satisfactory explanation of it appears.
  2. A dial. form, with intrusive r (often not pron.), of lake (pron. läk, also lāk), laik, play: see lake.
  3. from lark, n. Cf. larrikin.
 

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/lɑrk/
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