From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Stark \Stark\ (st[aum]rk), a. [Compar. Starker (-[~e]r);
superl. Starkest.] [OE. stark stiff, strong, AS. stearc;
akin to OS. starc strong, D. sterk, OHG. starc, starah, G. &
Sw. stark, Dan. staerk, Icel. sterkr, Goth. gasta['u]rknan to
become dried up, Lith. str["e]gti to stiffen, to freeze. Cf.
Starch, a. & n.]
1. Stiff; rigid. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
Whose senses all were straight benumbed and stark.
--Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
His heart gan wax as stark as marble stone.
--Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The north is not so stark and cold. --B. Jonson.
[1913 Webster]
2. Complete; absolute; full; perfect; entire. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Consider the stark security
The common wealth is in now. --B. Jonson.
[1913 Webster]
3. Strong; vigorous; powerful.
[1913 Webster]
A stark, moss-trooping Scot. --Sir W.
Scott.
[1913 Webster]
Stark beer, boy, stout and strong beer. --Beau. &
Fl.
[1913 Webster]
4. Severe; violent; fierce. [Obs.] "In starke stours" [i. e.,
in fierce combats]. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
5. Mere; sheer; gross; entire; downright.
[1913 Webster]
He pronounces the citation stark nonsense.
--Collier.
[1913 Webster]
Rhetoric is very good or stark naught; there's no
medium in rhetoric. --Selden.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Stark \Stark\ (st[aum]rk), adv.
Wholly; entirely; absolutely; quite; as, stark mad. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Held him strangled in his arms till he was stark dead.
--Fuller.
[1913 Webster]
Stark naked, wholly naked; quite bare.
[1913 Webster]
Strip your sword stark naked. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Note: According to Professor Skeat, "stark-naked" is derived
from steort-naked, or start-naked, literally
tail-naked, and hence wholly naked. If this etymology
be true the preferable form is stark-naked.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Stark \Stark\, v. t.
To stiffen. [R.]
[1913 Webster]
If horror have not starked your limbs. --H. Taylor.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
stark
adv 1: completely; "stark mad"; "mouth stark open"
adj 1: devoid of any qualifications or disguise or adornment;
"the blunt truth"; "the crude facts"; "facing the stark
reality of the deadline" [syn: blunt, {crude(a)},
{stark(a)}]
2: severely simple; "a stark interior" [syn: austere,
severe, stark, stern]
3: complete or extreme; "stark poverty"; "a stark contrast"
4: without qualification; used informally as (often pejorative)
intensifiers; "an arrant fool"; "a complete coward"; "a
consummate fool"; "a double-dyed villain"; "gross
negligence"; "a perfect idiot"; "pure folly"; "what a sodding
mess"; "stark staring mad"; "a thoroughgoing villain"; "utter
nonsense"; "the unadulterated truth" [syn: {arrant(a)},
{complete(a)}, {consummate(a)}, {double-dyed(a)},
{everlasting(a)}, {gross(a)}, {perfect(a)}, {pure(a)},
{sodding(a)}, {stark(a)}, {staring(a)}, {thoroughgoing(a)},
{utter(a)}, unadulterated]
5: providing no shelter or sustenance; "bare rocky hills";
"barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high
Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark
landscape" [syn: bare, barren, bleak, desolate,
stark]