LARK

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lark mean? 

• LARK (noun)
  The noun LARK has 4 senses:

1. North American songbirds having a yellow breast

2. a songbird that lives mainly on the ground in open country; has streaky brown plumage

3. any of numerous predominantly Old World birds noted for their singing

4. any carefree episode

  Familiarity information: LARK used as a noun is uncommon.

• LARK (verb)
  The verb LARK has 1 sense:

1. play boisterously

  Familiarity information: LARK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LARK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

North American songbirds having a yellow breast

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

lark; meadowlark

Hypernyms ("lark" is a kind of...):

American oriole; New World oriole; oriole (American songbird; male is black and orange or yellow)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lark"):

eastern meadowlark; Sturnella magna (a meadowlark of eastern North America)

Sturnella neglecta; western meadowlark (a meadowlark of western North America)

Holonyms ("lark" is a member of...):

genus Sturnella; Sturnella (a genus of passerine birds including the meadowlarks)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A songbird that lives mainly on the ground in open country; has streaky brown plumage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

lark; pipit; titlark

Hypernyms ("lark" is a kind of...):

oscine; oscine bird (passerine bird having specialized vocal apparatus)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lark"):

Anthus pratensis; meadow pipit (a common pipit that is brown above and white below; widely distributed in northern and central Europe and in Asia)

Holonyms ("lark" is a member of...):

Anthus; genus Anthus (pipits)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any of numerous predominantly Old World birds noted for their singing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("lark" is a kind of...):

oscine; oscine bird (passerine bird having specialized vocal apparatus)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lark"):

Alauda arvensis; skylark (brown-speckled European lark noted for singing while hovering at a great height)

Holonyms ("lark" is a member of...):

Alaudidae; family Alaudidae (larks)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Any carefree episode

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

escapade; lark

Hypernyms ("lark" is a kind of...):

diversion; recreation (an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lark"):

sexcapade (a sexual escapade; an illicit affair)

Derivation:

lark (play boisterously)

• LARK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lark    ... he / she / it larks   
Past simple: larked   
Past participle: larked   
-ing form: larking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Play boisterously

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

cavort; disport; frisk; frolic; gambol; lark; lark about; rollick; romp; run around; skylark; sport

Context example:

The toddlers romped in the playroom

Hypernyms (to "lark" is one way to...):

play (be at play; be engaged in playful activity; amuse oneself in a way characteristic of children)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

lark (any carefree episode)

 Context examples 

"I'm sorry to be troublin' you with me foolish spache," he said regretfully. "I mint nothin' by it. 'Tis a great day for Michael Dennin, an' he's as gay as a lark."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

The ladies, since the gentlemen entered, have become lively as larks; conversation waxes brisk and merry.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

There were shoulders, legs, and loins, shaped like those of mutton, and very well dressed, but smaller than the wings of a lark.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Yes, nobody minds them, so lark away, but don't get wild, will you?

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

And the lark was never gayer than that excellent woman.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

From the valley arose the mellow song of meadow-larks, while about them, in and out, through sunshine and shadow, fluttered great yellow butterflies.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

My servants were astonished to see me eat it, bones and all, as in our country we do the leg of a lark.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Meg is the turtledove, and Amy is like the lark she writes about, trying to get up among the clouds, but always dropping down into its nest again.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I have sent his name up, on a scrap of paper, to the kite, along the string, when it has been in the sky, among the larks.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The tiny stream slipping down the mossy-lipped stone seemed suddenly to increase the volume of its gurgling noise. Save for the meadow-larks, there was no other sound.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)