nark

noun
noun, mainly Austral and NZ

1:
a: An annoying, unpleasant, obstructive, or quarrelsome person. (1846 —) .
V. Palmer 'Oh, don't be a nark, Miss Byrne,' he coaxes her (1928).

b: An annoying or unpleasant thing or situation; a source of astonishment or annoyance. (1918 —) .
R. Alley Typhoid, malaria, and all the narks (1948).


2: Brit
a: A police informer or decoy. (1859 —) .
Times If it was thought we were coppers' narks it could endanger the lives of our film crews (1975).

b: A policeman. (1891 —) .
M. Allingham I've 'appened on a little something wot the official narks' 'aven't cottoned to yet (a.1966). verb


3: trans. To annoy, exasperate; often in passive. (1888 —) .
Daily Telegraph If you feel especially narked about something, you can turn it into a theory of human development (1973).

4: trans. To stop; mainly in imperative in the phr. nark it. (1889 —) .
N. Graham 'Nark it,' I said. 'I want a little bit of information from you' (1973).

5: trans. Austral To thwart. (1891 —) .
R. Beilby Ya'd do anything to nark me, anything to put me down, wouldn't ya? (1975).

6: intr. To complain, grumble. (1916 —) .
Times Literary Supplement This naturally brings out the worst in their opponents and in the resultant narking and name-calling the 'legitimate contention' is lost sight of (1958).

[From Romany nāk nose.]

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