Dark Ages


Also found in: Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to Dark Ages: Middle Ages, Renaissance

dark age

n.
1. Dark Ages
a. The period in Europe from the fall of Rome in the fifth century ad to the restoration of relative political stability around the year 1000; the early part of the Middle Ages.
b. The entire Middle Ages, especially when viewed as a troubled period marked by the loss of classical learning. No longer in use by historians.
2. often dark ages
a. An era of ignorance, superstition, or social chaos or repression: a novel depicting the dark ages in the aftermath of a global war.
b. The early or crude stage in the history or development of something: back in the dark ages of radio technology.
3. Dark Ages The period in the history of the universe, roughly the second 500 million years according to current cosmological models, when all matter was in the form of neutral hydrogen and helium atoms, but no stars or galaxies had formed.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Dark Ages

pl n
1. (Historical Terms) the period from about the late 5th century ad to about 1000 ad, once considered an unenlightened period
2. (Historical Terms) (occasionally) the whole medieval period
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Dark′ Ag′es


n.
1. the period in European history from about A.D. 476 to about 1000.
2. the whole of the Middle Ages, from about A.D. 476 to the Renaissance.
3. (often l.c.) a period or stage marked by repressiveness, a lack of advanced knowledge, etc.
[1720–30]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.Dark Ages - the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian RenaissanceDark Ages - the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance
bloodletting - formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of the four humors of medieval medicine)
cannon - (Middle Ages) a cylindrical piece of armor plate to protect the arm
chain armor, chain armour, chain mail, ring armor, ring armour, ring mail, mail - (Middle Ages) flexible armor made of interlinked metal rings
habergeon - (Middle Ages) a light sleeveless coat of chain mail worn under the hauberk
miniature, illumination - painting or drawing included in a book (especially in illuminated medieval manuscripts)
pavis, pavise - (Middle Ages) a large heavy oblong shield protecting the whole body; originally carried but sometimes set up in permanent position
humour, humor - (Middle Ages) one of the four fluids in the body whose balance was believed to determine your emotional and physical state; "the humors are blood and phlegm and yellow and black bile"
Cockaigne - (Middle Ages) an imaginary land of luxury and idleness
courtly love - (Middle Ages) a highly conventionalized code of conduct for lovers
knight errantry - (Middle Ages) the code of conduct observed by a knight errant who is wandering in search of deeds of chivalry
trivium - (Middle Ages) an introductory curriculum at a medieval university involving grammar and logic and rhetoric; considered to be a triple way to eloquence
quadrivium - (Middle Ages) a higher division of the curriculum in a medieval university involving arithmetic and music and geometry and astronomy
Oberson - (Middle Ages) the king of the fairies and husband of Titania in medieval folklore
Titania - (Middle Ages) the queen of the fairies in medieval folklore
esquire - (Middle Ages) an attendant and shield bearer to a knight; a candidate for knighthood
palsgrave, palatine - (Middle Ages) the lord of a palatinate who exercised sovereign powers over his lands
Tristan, Tristram - (Middle Ages) the nephew of the king of Cornwall who (according to legend) fell in love with his uncle's bride (Iseult) after they mistakenly drank a love potion that left them eternally in love with each other
Iseult, Isolde - (Middle Ages) the bride of the king of Cornwall who (according to legend) fell in love with the king's nephew (Tristan) after they mistakenly drank a love potion that left them eternally in love with each other
helot, serf, villein - (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord
history - the aggregate of past events; "a critical time in the school's history"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

Dark Ages

npl the Dark Agesl'alto medioevo
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
Backward they always gaze toward dark ages: then, indeed, were delusion and faith something different.
And John Barleycorn is with me because I was born in what future ages will call the dark ages before the ages of rational civilisation.
His features, keen and regular, with an aquiline nose, and piercing black eyes; his high and wrinkled forehead, and long grey hair and beard, would have been considered as handsome, had they not been the marks of a physiognomy peculiar to a race, which, during those dark ages, was alike detested by the credulous and prejudiced vulgar, and persecuted by the greedy and rapacious nobility, and who, perhaps, owing to that very hatred and persecution, had adopted a national character, in which there was much, to say the least, mean and unamiable.
The drift of Milton's argument, leads him to employ language which would appear, at first sight, to verge upon their doctrine ; but it will be seen immediately, that he guards himself against the charge of having adopted one of the most ignorant errors of the dark ages of the church.
I have always been in favor of a little theory: we must have Thought; else we shall be landed back in the dark ages. But talking of books, there is Southey's `Peninsular War.' I am reading that of a morning.
She says that all heads of houses are relics of the dark ages."
Thorn of Canterbury: which latter case arose, some time after the dark ages had passed away.
In fact, we call that period the Dark Ages. A period wherein science was raped by the metaphysicians, wherein physics became a search for the Philosopher's Stone, wherein chemistry became alchemy, and astronomy became astrology.
Pickwick, whom the boys applauded as loud as anybody, probably under the impression that his tights and gaiters were some remnants of the dark ages; and then the two vehicles proceeded towards Mrs.
She took to writing sensation stories, for in those dark ages, even all-perfect America read rubbish.
All this, you remember, happened in those dark ages when there were no schools of design; before schoolmasters were invariably men of scrupulous integrity, and before the clergy were all men of enlarged minds and varied culture.
As we have seen in the previous chapter, there now came a period of violent competition which is remembered as the Dark Ages of the telephone business.