different between lark vs skylarking

English

Alternative forms

• laverock, lavrock

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: läk, IPA^(key): /l??k/
• (General American) enPR: lärk, IPA^(key): /l??k/
• Rhymes: -??(?)k

Etymology 1

From Middle English larke, laverke, from Old English l?werce, l?werce, l?uricæ, from Proto-Germanic *laiwarik?, *laiwazik? (compare dialectal West Frisian larts, Dutch leeuwerik, German Lerche), from *laiwaz (borrowed into Finnish leivo, Estonian lõo), of unknown ultimate origin with no definitive cognates outside of Germanic.

Noun

lark (plural larks)

1. Any of various small, singing passerine birds of the family Alaudidae.
2. Any of various similar-appearing birds, but usually ground-living, such as the meadowlark and titlark.
3. (by extension) One who wakes early; one who is up with the larks.

   Synonyms: early bird, early riser

   Antonym: owl

Hyponyms

• (species in Alaudidae): woodlark, skylark, magpie-lark, horned lark, sea lark, crested lark, shorelark

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

lark (third-person singular simple present larks, present participle larking, simple past and past participle larked)

1. To catch larks (type of bird).

References

• lark on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Alaudidae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• Alaudidae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain, either

• from a northern English dialectal term lake/laik (“to play”) (around 1300, from Old Norse leika (“to play (as opposed to work)”)), with an intrusive -r- as is common in southern British dialects; or
• a shortening of skylark (1809), sailors' slang, "play roughly in the rigging of a ship", because the common European larks were proverbial for high-flying; Dutch has a similar idea in speelvogel (“playbird, a person of markedly playful nature”).

Noun

lark (plural larks)

1. A romp, frolic, some fun.
2. A prank.

Synonyms

• whim, especially in phrase on a whim, see also Thesaurus:whim

Derived terms

• on a lark

Related terms

• skylark (in verb sense "play")

Translations

Verb

lark (third-person singular simple present larks, present participle larking, simple past and past participle larked)

1. To sport, engage in harmless pranking.
   • 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, Chapter 35,^[3]

     […] the porter at the rail-road had seen a scuffle; or when he found it was likely to bring him in as a witness, then it might not have been a scuffle, only a little larking […]

2. To frolic, engage in carefree adventure.

Translations

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “lark”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• Karl, Klar, Kral, klar

English

Etymology

From skylark +? -ing.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?sk??l??k??/

Verb

skylarking

1. present participle of skylark

Noun

skylarking (countable and uncountable, plural skylarkings)

1. (originally nautical) Playing around; frolicking; originally, running about the rigging of a vessel for fun; horseplay.
   • 1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or, The Ambiguities

     […] those gods and men whose titles to eminence are secure, seldom worry themselves about the seditious gossip of old apple-women, and the skylarkings of funny little boys in the street.

Translations