"darkmans" means: Obsolete English thieves' cant for nighttime or 'the night', used by 16th and 17th century criminal underworld communities to refer to the d.... This is informal slang, common in casual speech, texting and social media, but not appropriate for school work, applications or professional settings. There is no real cause for concern in itself; it is everyday peer vocabulary. If your child uses it, a light comment about audience and register is usually enough — no need to escalate. Context, more than the word, tells you whether to follow up.
darkmans
Obsolete English thieves' cant for nighttime or 'the night', used by 16th and 17th century criminal underworld communities to refer to the dark hours when illicit activity was most easily conducted.
Definitions
Obsolete English thieves' cant for nighttime or 'the night', used by 16th and 17th century criminal underworld communities to refer to the dark hours when illicit activity was most easily conducted. Part of a rich vocabulary of Elizabethan and Jacobean criminal slang documented in canting dictionaries of the period. 'Darkmans' pairs with 'lightmans' (daytime). Today the word is of purely historical and literary interest, appearing in period crime fiction, academic study of cant, and occasionally in fantasy or historical RPG settings.
They planned to move the stolen goods during the darkmans, when the constables would be least attentive.
"darkmans" means: Obsolete English thieves' cant for nighttime or 'the night', used by 16th and 17th century criminal underworld communities to refer to the d.... This is informal slang, common in casual speech, texting and social media, but not appropriate for school work, applications or professional settings. There is no real cause for concern in itself; it is everyday peer vocabulary. If your child uses it, a light comment about audience and register is usually enough — no need to escalate. Context, more than the word, tells you whether to follow up.
"darkmans" means: Obsolete English thieves' cant for nighttime or 'the night', used by 16th and 17th century criminal underworld communities to refer to the d.... Register: informal slang, fine in casual conversation, texting and social media but not in academic essays, business writing or formal speech. Note the regional or dialect label (Obsolete) — usage may sound odd outside that variety. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when
Comments
(obsolete, UK, thieves') The night.
Comments
For specific readers
Why is this section here?
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
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🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
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- lightmans73%
(obsolete, UK, thieves) The day.
- bene darkmans73%
(archaic, UK, thieves' cant) Good night; a farewell said in the evening or nighttime.
- black dark63%
(slang, Southern US, Appalachian) nighttime.
- dimber62%
18th-century British thieves' cant — from Romani 'dimber' (fine, handsome). Used in flash vocabulary to describe a person or thing of admirable quality; the cant equivalent of 'top-notch.' Fell out of use after the 1800s but survives in historical crime fiction and slang dictionaries.