darky

plural darkies

1. alternativecountableAlternative spelling of darkey (“dark-skinned person”).

   He’s a small farmer, not a big planter, and if the boys thought enough of him to elect him lieutenant, then it’s not for any darky to talk impudent about him.

   1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published June 1944, →OCLC, part I, page 17

   1 more example

   George recognized the figure as that of Sam Haddigaddi, one of the several aborigines and half-castes who worked with his father. These darkies, as they were called, were good whalers.

   1961, Tom Mead, Killers of Eden, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 7

2. alternativecountableAlternative spelling of darkey (“dark lantern”).
3. countableobsoleteuncountablethieves' cantThe time of darkness: night or dusk.

   […] at Darky they buss them out of the Ground, that is, at Night they steal the Horses, then pike thirty or forty Straches that Darky, that is go thirty or forty Miles that Night, towards the next Gaff to fence them, […]

   1761, The Discoveries of John Poulter, alias Baxter, etc. MS. notes, page 39