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Of or pertaining to the ancient city of Memphis in Egypt; hence, Egyptian; as, Memphian darkness.

Darkness; gloom; murk. "In mirk and mire." Longfellow.

visible monition of ... other periods, such as we have of the day by successive light and darkness. Holder.

, whose light, borrowed from the sun, is reflected to the earth, and serves to dispel the darkness of night. The diameter of the moon is 2,160 miles, its mean distance from the earth is 240,000 miles, and its mass is one eightieth that of the earth. See Lunar month, under Month. The crescent moon, the diadem of night.…

in the garment. Addison. He muffled with a cloud his mournful eyes. Dryden. Muffled up in darkness and superstition. Arbuthnot.

Darkness; mirk. [Archaic] Shak.

but only moonlight, starlight, or artificial light. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. Gen. i. 5.

Darkness; clouded. [R.] Shak.

Of, pertaining to, done or occuring in, the night; as, nocturnal darkness, cries, expedition, etc.; -- opposed to Ant: diurnal. Dryden.

f living without light; as, nonphotobiotic plant cells, or cells which habitually live in darkness.

leaves, to assume special "sleeping" positions or make curvatures under the influence of darkness. It is well illustrated in the leaflets of clover and other leguminous plants.

itute of light; imperfectly illuminated; dusky; dim. His lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. Prov. xx. 20.

The quality or state of being obscure; darkness; privacy; inconspicuousness; unintelligibleness; uncertainty. Yuo are not for obscurity designed. Dryden. They were now brought forth from obscurity, to be contemplated by artists with admiration and despair. Macaulay.

The act of darkening; the state of being darkened; darkness. [Obs.] In every megrim or vertigo, there is an obtenebration joined with a semblance of turning round. Bacon.

To have a distinct touch or feeling of; to feel. [Obs.] To bring a palpèd darkness o'er the earth. Heywood.

Capable of being touched and felt; perceptible by the touch; as, a palpable form. Shak. Darkness must overshadow all his bounds, Palpable darkness. Milton.

ake way into the interior of; to effect an entrance into; to pierce; as, light penetrates darkness.

ectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating. The pestilence That walketh in darkness. Ps. xci. 6.

Blackness, as of pitch; darkness.

Any imagined frightful object, especially one supposed to haunt the darkness; a bugbear. [Colloq. U. S.]