Black Friday

[blak frahy-dey, -dee]

noun

1. September 24, 1869, the date of a financial panic sparked by gold speculators.

2. the day after Thanksgiving, one of the busiest shopping days because of discounts offered by retailers.

   I sign up for promotional emails at my favorite stores before Black Friday so I don’t miss any exceptional bargains.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Black Friday¹

First recorded in 1865–70; from black in the sense “marked by disaster or misfortune”; the 1951 sense “day after Thanksgiving” originally so called from the troublesome traffic caused by shoppers and later re-explained with reference to the use of black ink to record business profits

Idioms and Phrases

Also Black Monday, Black Tuesday, etc. A day of economic catastrophe, as in We feared there'd be another Black Friday . This usage dates from September 24, 1869, a Friday when stock manipulators Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market and caused its collapse. The adjective black has been appended to similar occasions ever since, including October 29, 1929, the Tuesday of the market collapse that marked the start of the Great Depression, and Black Monday of October 19, 1987, when the stock market experienced its greatest fall since the Great Depression.

Any day marked by great confusion or activity, as in It was just my luck to be traveling on Black Tuesday . This usage, too, is based on the events of 1869, marked by economic chaos. It has since been extended to other kinds of confusion, such as an accident hampering traffic during the evening rush hour.

Example Sentences

Nvidia stock climbed 1.3% on Wednesday, but slipped 0.4% in after-hours trading—suggesting it could give up some of the gains when the U.S. market reopens on Black Friday.

Read more on Barron's

Nvidia stock climbed 1.3% on Wednesday, but slipped 0.4% in after-hours trading—suggesting it could give up some of the gains when the U.S. market reopens on Black Friday.

Read more on Barron's

With Black Friday in mind, the Barron’s Tech team compiled a list of our favorite technology products that are well worth the cost and come with our highest recommendation.

Read more on Barron's

This news isn’t simply something to give the typical worker indigestion on Thursday, but may be enough to make them think twice before wasting too much money on Black Friday as well.

Read more on MarketWatch

Black Friday puts the retailers in the black, but keeps consumers in the red.

Read more on MarketWatch