Friday
(ˈfraɪdeɪ, -dɪ)
Forms: 1 fr{iacu}ᵹedæᵹ, fr{iacu}ᵹdæᵹ, 3 fridæi, 2–3 fridai, 3 south. vridei, vridawe, vryday, 3–7 fryday, 4–6 frydaye, (4 fredaye), 6 fridaie, 3– friday.
[OE. fr{iacu}ᵹedæᵹ, ‘day of (the goddess) Fr{iacu}ᵹ’; a Com. WGer. translation of the late L. dies Veneris, day of (the planet) Venus. Cf. OFris. frigendei (where however the name of the goddess is of the weak declension), MDu. vrīdag (Du. vrijdag), OHG. frîatag (MHG. vrîtac, mod.Ger. freitag); the ON. friádagr (Sw., Da. fredag) seems to be of Ger. origin.
The OE. Fr{iacu}ᵹ str. fem. occurs only in this name and as a common noun in pl. = Lat. veneres; it corresponds to ON. Frigg, name of the wife of Odin (not, as often said, to Freyja, though the latter goddess corresponds more nearly in character to Venus), and is the fem. of the OTeut. adj. *frijo-, originally ‘beloved, loving’: see free. The more exact transl. of ‘Dies Veneris’, Freyjudagr, occurs Hist. in some Icel. writers.]
1. The sixth day of the week.
Black Friday (a) † School slang (see quot. 1611); (b) applied to various historic dates of disastrous events which took place on Friday, as Dec. 6, 1745, when the landing of the Young Pretender was announced in London; May 11, 1866, when a commercial panic ensued on the failure of Overend, Gurney, & Co. Golden Friday, the Friday in each of the Ember weeks. † the three Golden Fridays, humorously for Good Friday: see quot. 1532. Good Friday, the Friday before Easter-day, observed as a holy day to commemorate Christ's crucifixion; also † Long Friday (see quot. 1891).
| a 1000 Laws Eth. v. §17 Fæstan ælce Friᵹe-dæᵹ. c 1050 Byrhtferth's Handboc in Anglia (1885) VIII. 302 Friᵹedæᵹ, wodnesdæᵹ, sæternes dæᵹ. a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1106 On þon Friᵹedæᵹ..ætywde an unᵹewunelic steorra. 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1137 (Laud MS.), & on lang fridæi him on rode hengen for ure Drihtines luue. c 1205 Lay. 13932 Freon heore læfdi heo ȝiuen hire fridæi. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 229 Þer uore þe Englysse clupede..after Frye, Fryday. [c 1330 Ann. Lond. an. 1305 in Stubbs Chron. Edw. I & II (Rolls) I. 136 Die qui dicebatur bonus dies Veneris.] 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xix. 168 This by-fil on a Fryday, a litel by-fore Paske. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) vii. 76 And on the Gode Fryday it [the Lampe] gothe out be him self. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) iii. 1513 On þe fryday, god mad man. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 303 b, The sixth chapiter sheweth a meditacyon for Fryday. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 651/2 The .iii. golden frydayes, that is to wit, the frydaye nexte after Palme sundaye, and the frydaye next afore easter day, and good fryday. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. ii. viii. 24 Above all other times they [witches] confesse upon fridaies. 1611 Boys Exp. Epist. & Gosp. (1630) 203 Let me tell them of another schoole-tricke; at the world's end there is a blacke-friday, a generall examination. a 1618 Raleigh Mahomet (1637) 19 And because his [Mahomet's] creation hapned upon a friday, that day was ordayned by him to be their Sabbaoth. 1850 Neale East Ch. iv. i. I. 750 The Friday after Pentecost is called Golden Friday, and is a high Festival. 1868 Campion & Beaumont Prayer-bk. Interleaved (1876) 115 The term Good Friday is peculiar to the English Church. 1891 Benham Dict. Relig. 476 Among the Saxons it [the Friday in Holy Week] was called Long Friday—probably on account of the long fasts and offices used on this day. |
2. A reception or entertainment given on that day.
| 1836 C'tess Granville Lett. (1894) II. 209 Not a Genoese appeared there, or at my Friday. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. ii. 73 Happy the man who was admitted to the Marchioness's Fridays. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
Friday morning. Also
† Friday-face, a grave or gloomy expression of the countenance: whence
† Friday-faced a., sad-looking;
Friday-fare, food for a fast-day;
† Friday-feast, a fast-day meal, a fish dinner;
† Friday-look, a solemn look
= Friday-face.
| 1592 Greene Groatsw. Wit (1617) C iv b, The Foxe made a *Fridayface, counterfeiting sorrow. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 1092 What makes you look so sad, and moodily? with such a Friday face. |
| c 1600 Day Begg. Bednall Gr. iii. ii. (1881) 57 No, you *Friday-fac't-frying-pan. 1606 Wily Beguiled in Hawkins Eng. Drama (1773) III. 356 What a friday-fac'd slave it is! I think..his face never keeps holiday. |
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, xlix, That he might haue his Capons, *fryday fare. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 100 The lonely Hall, Whose Friday fare was Enoch's ministering. |
| 1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. 56 Invites his friends to a *friday feast. |
| a 1716 South Serm. (1717) VI. 109 If he steps forth with a *Friday-look and a Lenten Face..Oh! then he is a Saint upon Earth. |
| 1633 Rowley Match Midnight 1, A plague of *Friday mornings! |