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black dog

American  

noun

Informal.
  1. melancholy; despondency; the blues.

    The black dog is over him.


black dog British  

noun

  1. informal depression or melancholy

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of black dog

First recorded in 1700–10

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

She said the black dog "came running towards them".

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2025

I left my own black dog behind on my way to Cannes, so there was no way I wasn’t committing to this one.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2024

Tár tries to follow a comely cellist into her apartment, but instead encounters a dank basement and a hulking black dog that recalls the maybe-supernatural Hound of the Baskervilles.

From New York Times ● Dec. 31, 2022

When the black dog, as Winston Churchill called his depression, nipped at his heels, Buchwald turned to humor, “the greatest defense in the world.”

From Washington Post ● Sep. 9, 2022

She flicked her hand at the black dog Hecuba.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

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