An unlucky day; one to be recalled with regret. The Romans
marked their unlucky days with a piece of black charcoal, and their
lucky ones with white chalk.
Black-letter dogs.
Literary antiquaries who poke and pry into every hole and corner to
find out black-letter copies of books.
By fell black-letter dogs ...
That from Gothic kennels eager strut.
Matthias: Pursuits of Literature.
Black Lists
Lists of insolvency and bankruptcy, for the private guidance of the
mercantile community. (See Black Books .)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
