DERN

dern

Noun

  1. A secret; secrecy.
  2. A secret place; hiding.
  3. An obscure language.
  4. Darkness; obscurity.

Noun (etymology 2)

  1. A gatepost or doorpost.
    So I just put my eye between the wall and the dern of the gate, and I saw him come up to the back door.., Charles Kingsley, Westward Ho!, Ch. XIV, How Salvation Yeo Slew the King of the Gubbings.

Verb

  1. To hide; secrete, as in a hole.
    He at length escaped them by derning himself in a fox-earth. ― H. Miller.
  2. To hide oneself; skulk.
    But look how soon they heard of Holoferne / Their courage quail'd, and they began to derne. ― T. Hudson.

Adjective

  1. Hidden; secret; private.


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