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σκότος , ὁ, more rarely σκότος , εος, τό (v. sub fin.),
A.darkness, gloom, Od.19.389, Emp.121.4, Pi.Fr.142, etc.; opp. φάος, A.Ch.319 (lyr.), E.Hipp.417, etc.; opp. ἡμέρα, Pl.Def.411b.
2. in Il. always of the darkness of death, mostly in phrase “τὸν δὲ ς. ὄσσε κάλυψεν” 4.461, al.; “στυγερὸς δ᾽ ἄρα μιν ς. εἷλεν” 5.47, 13.672; so in Trag. and Com., “σκότῳ θανεῖν” E.Hipp.837 (lyr.); ἤδη με περιβάλλει ς. Id.Ph.1453; “ς. γίγνεται” Pherecr.40; σκότον εἶναι τεθνηκότος (sc. Αἰσχύλου) Ar.Fr. 643.
3. of the nether world, Pi.Fr.130; “σκότον νέμονται Τάρταρόν τε” A.Eu.72, cf. Pers.223; “τὸν ἀεὶ κατὰ γᾶς ς. εἱμένος” S.OC1701 (lyr.); παῖδες ἀρχαίου Σκότου ib.106; “ἰὼ ς., ἐμὸν φάος” Id.Aj.394 (lyr.); “γῆς σκότῳ κέκρυπται” E.Hel.62; “σκότου πύλαι” Id.Hec.1.
4. the darkness of the womb, “φυγόντα μητρόθεν σκότον” A.Th.664: pl., “ἐν σκότοισι νηδύος τεθραμμένη” Id.Eu.665.
5. of blindness, “σκότου νέφος” S.OT 1313 (lyr.); ὁθούνεκ᾽ . . ἐν σκότῳ . . ὀψοίατο, i.e. οὐκέτι ὀψοίατο, ib.1273; βλέποντα νῦν μὲν ὄρθ᾽, ἔπειτα δὲ σκότον, i.e. μηδέν, ib.419; “σκότον δεδορκώς” E.Ph.377, cf. HF563.
b. dizziness, vertigo, Hp.Epid. 5.23; “σκότοι πρὸ τῶν ὀμμάτων” Arist.HA584a3; cf. σκοτόδινος, -δινιάω.
6. metaph., σκότῳ κρύπτειν hide in darkness, S.El.1396 (lyr.), cf. Pi.Frr.42.5, 228; σκότον ἔχειν to be in darkness, obscurity, Id.N.7.13, E.Fr.1052.8; ἀπορία καὶ ς. Pl.Lg.837a; “περικαλύψαι τοῖσι πράγμασι σκότον” E.Ion 1522: with Preps., διὰ σκότους ἡ ὁδός it is dark and uncertain, X.An.2.5.9; “ἐν ς. καθήμενος” Pi.O.1.83; “μηδὲν ἐν ς. τεχνωμένων” S.Ant.494; “κατὰ σκότον” Id.Ph.578; “ὑπὸ σκότου” Id.Ant.692, E.Or.1457 (lyr.), X.Cyr.4.6.4; “ὑπὸ σκότῳ” A.Ag.1030 (lyr.), E.Ph.1214.
7. of a person, Μητρότιμος ὁ ς., like ὁ σκοτεινός, the mystery-man, Hippon.78; also, darkness, i.e. ignorance, D.19.226; deceit, “ς. καὶ ἀπάτη” Pl.Lg.864c.
8. pl., σκότη shadows in a picture, Paus.Gr.Fr.300, Suid. s.v. ἀπεσκοτωμένα, Eust.953.51.—Ael.Dion. Fr.217 regarded the masc. as the Att. form: the neut. never occurs in Ar., and is nowhere required by the metre in Trag., though it sts. occurs in codd., E.Hec.831, HF1159, Fr.534, v.l. in S.OC40, dub. l. in A.Fr.6; it is found, however, without v.l., in Pi.Fr.42.5 and Att. Prose, Pl.R.516e, Cra.418c, D.18.159, etc.; also in Hdt.2.121. έ, X.An.2.5.9, 7.4.18; the word is always neut. in LXX and NT.
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

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