noun
- a merry, carefree adventure; frolic; escapade.
- innocent or good-natured mischief; a prank.
- something extremely easy to accomplish, succeed in, or to obtain: That exam was a lark.
verb (used without object)
- to have fun; frolic; romp.
- to behave mischievously; play pranks.
- Fox Hunting. (of a rider) to take jumps unnecessarily: He tired his horse by larking on the way home.
noun
- any brown songbird of the predominantly Old World family Alaudidae, esp the skylark: noted for their singing
- short for titlark, meadowlark
- (often capital) any of various slender but powerful fancy pigeons, such as the Coburg Lark
- up with the lark up early in the morning
noun
- a carefree adventure or frolic
- a harmless piece of mischief
- what a lark! how amusing!
verb (intr)
- (often foll by about) to have a good time by frolicking
- to play a prank
n.1“songbird,” early 14c., earlier lauerche (c.1200), from Old English lawerce (late Old English laferce), from Proto-Germanic *laiw(a)rikon (cf. Old Saxon lewerka, Frisian liurk, Old Norse lævirik, Dutch leeuwerik, German Lerche), of unknown origin. Some Old English and Old Norse forms suggest a compound meaning “treason-worker,” but there is no folk tale to explain or support this. n.2“spree, frolic,” 1811, possibly shortening of skylark (1809), sailors’ slang “play rough in the rigging of a ship” (larks were proverbial for high-flying), or from English dialectal lake/laik “to play” (c.1300, from Old Norse leika “to play,” from PIE *leig- “to leap”) with intrusive -r- common in southern British dialect. The verb lake, considered characteristic of Northern English vocabulary, is the opposite of work but lacks the other meanings of play. As a verb, from 1813. Related: Larked; larking. In addition to the idiom beginning with lark
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