Ark. The ark of Noah, and ark of the covenant, were not the only ‘arks’ of which our ancestors spoke. Indeed, in Lancashire at this day a press to keep clothes in is an ‘ark,’ a large bin for holding meal a ‘meal-ark.’
Then first of all came forth Sir Satyrane,
Bearing that precious relicke in an arke
Of gold.
Spenser, Fairy Queen, iv. 4, 15.
In the riche arke Dan Homers rimes he placed.
Earl of Surrey, Poems, p. 35 (ed. 1717).
You have beheld how they
With wicker arks did come,
To kiss and bear away