BLACK DOG

PRONUNCIATION: (blak dog)

MEANING: noun: Depression.

ETYMOLOGY: In the beginning, a black dog was a canine of dark complexion. Then it started to be used metaphorically to refer to a counterfeit coin, perhaps because such a coin was made of base metals (instead of silver or gold) that turn black over time. Eventually, the term began to be applied to depression. The lexicographer Samuel Johnson used the term in the 1780s for his own depression: “When I rise my breakfast is solitary, the black dog waits to share it, from breakfast to dinner he continues barking.” In modern times, Winston Churchill popularized the term when he used it to describe his own depression. Earliest documented use: 1665.
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BLANK DOG - catatonia

BRACK DOG - an old salt

BACK DOG - a second Rottweiler, to guard the rear of the house