Forms: 1–4 arc, 1–2 earc, 1 ære, erc, erk, ark, 2 eark, 3 (Orm.) arrke, 3–7 ark(e, 7 arcke, 4– ark. [Common Teutonic: with OE. arc (eare, ærc, erc, erk), acc. arce, cf. OFris. erke, OHG. archa, mod.G. arche, ON. örk (gen. arkar), Sw., Da. ark, Goth. and OTeut. arka, prob. a. L. arca chest, box, coffer; whence OF. arche, also adopted in senses 2, 3, alongside of the native word: see ARCHE.]
1. A chest, box, coffer, close basket, or similar receptacle; esp. a. in north. dial. a large wooden bin or hutch for storing meal, bread, fruit, etc.
a. 1000. Riddles (Gr.), lxii. 2. Oft mec fæste bileác freolicu meowle ides on earce.
c. 1200. Ormin, 18823. Þatt arrke þatt iss wrohht off tre.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 136. To þe ordre of Cisteans he gaf two þousand mark … to lay vp in arke.
1535. Coverdale, Ex. ii. 3. She toke an Arke of redes [Wyclif, a ionket of resshen; 1388 a leep of segge or seggis]. Ibid. (1611). An arke of bul-rushes.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., Wks. (Gros.), II. 9. They With Wicker Arks did come To kiss and beare away The richer Couslips home.
1845. Petrie, Eccl. Archit. Irel., 203. The relics of St. Ronan … were put into an ark or shrine.
c. 1450. Henryson, Mor. Fables, 8. The cheese in Arke, and meill in Kist.
1557. Lanc. Wills, I. (1857), 72. Ij gret arke standinge in the nursarie.
1724. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), II. 181. My bairn has tocher of her awin, An ark, an ambry, and a ladle.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 42. And from the ark at last did take Meal forth for porridge and for cake.
b. fig. ‘Casket, treasury.’
c. 1200. Ormin, 8971. Ure laffdiȝ Marȝe … leȝȝde itt all … Inn hire þohhtess arrke.
2. spec. in Jew. Hist. The wooden coffer containing the tables of the law, kept in the Holiest Place of the Tabernacle. Also called Ark of the Covenant, Ark of Testimony. See also ARCHE.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, cxxxi. 8. Ðu & erc ʓehalʓunge ðinre.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. ibid. Þu earce eart eall-haliʓra.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter ibid. Þou, and arke of þi halinesse.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Sam. vi. 11. Thei putten the arke of God upon the wayn.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 251. Therein An Ark, and in the Ark his Testimony.
1853. Maurice, Proph. & Kings, i. 4. The ark, the symbol of the people’s unity, was captured by the Philistines.
b. fig., as in phrases. To touch or lay hands on the ark: to interfere with, treat irreverently, what is held to be sacred; (in reference to 2 Sam. vi. 6.)
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., I. (1851), 100. The living arke of the holy Ghost.
1842. H. Rogers, Introd. Burke’s Wks., 83. Laying irreverent hands on the ark of the constitution.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., § 1. 7. The House of Commons only touched the ark of our property with half a heart.
3. The large covered floating vessel in which Noah was saved at the Deluge; hence fig. a place of refuge. (In 13–14th c. commonly ARCHE.)
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xxiv. 38. Inneode in ærce Noë [Rushw. arke, Ags. & Hatt. earce].
c. 1175. Cott. Hom., 225. Werc [MS. wrec] þe nu an arc.
c. 1200. Ormin, 14542. Drihhtin bada Noe gan till & wirrkenn himm an arrke.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. vi. 14. Make to thee an ark [v.r. schip] of planed trees.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. iv. 36. There is sure another flood toward, and these couples are comming to the Arke.
1679. Establ. Test., 46. No safety … out of the Ark of their Church.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 876. How spake the Serpent, and where stopped the Ark.
1863. (3 Feb.) Bright, America, Sp. (1876), 116. The United States has been … an ark of refuge to the people of Europe.
4. transf. A ship, boat, or similar floating vessel; spec. in U.S., a large flat-bottomed boat formerly used on rivers for the transport of produce.
1475. Caxton, Jason, 67 b. That thou go into pyrre for to make an arke.
1640. Yorke, Union Hon., Battels, 64. Skilfull navigators, whereof the Admirall in the Arke royall was chiefe.
a. 1813. A. Wilson, Foresters, Poet. Wks. 244. Huge loaded arks rush down the boiling tide.
1822. J. Flint, Lett. fr. Amer., 125. The beach is lined with keel boats, large arks for carrying produce, family boats.
1823. Byron, Island, I. viii. Commits him to his fragile ark.
† 5. An enclosure for catching or confining fish. Obs. [So arche in Ger. dialects; and cf. G. and F. arche a coffer-dam.]
1883. Athenæum, 2 June, 695/3. That Edinburgh had an eel-ark of its own at the east end of the North Loch.
6. Comb. and Attrib., as ark-born, ark-ship. Also † ark-wold, the wooden sides or beams of the ark; ark-full, an assemblage as numerous and diverse as that which Noah’s ark contained; ark-net, a kind of fish-trap (cf. eel-ark in 5); ark-shell, a species of bivalve mollusk.
1774. J. Bryant, Mythol., II. 435 (Jod.). The ark-born deity, Dionusus.
1613. Decree, in Law Rep., Com. Pl. V. 714. To place ark-nets and other engines in the said river.
1854. Woodward, Man. Mollusca, II. 268. The Ark-shells of the Palæozoic and Secondary strata.
1851. Forbes, in Art. Jrnl. Illust. Cat., Veg. W., An ark-full of living animals.
1853. T. T. Lynch, Self-Improvement, ii. 43. It [Christianity] is the ark-ship, the ark of safety, the ship of enterprise.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 576. Quan he [Noah] dede him in ðe arche-wold.
