Definitions
Wiktionary
- n. depression
Etymologies
- A personification. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“What was more, said that amazing man, he did not intend to relinquish supervision of sewers and water supply after he stepped down from office; as long as he lived, Marcus Agrippa would be hunched like a black dog outside the premises of the water companies and the drainage companies, which for far too long had tyrannized over Rome.”
“Myron sat next to him and whispered, "The white rabbit turns yellow when the black dog urinates on him.”
“A little black dog with bright brown eyes dashed out of the farm-house and ran madly toward the shaggy man, who had already picked up three apples and put them in one of the big wide pockets of his shaggy coat.”
“He changed into a wolf, and the other one changed into a dog—a big black dog I had seen before, Mother Bess, and taken for the grim.”
“I fumble frantically for the door handle, but before I have time to dive back into the safety of the van, the biggest of the group—a giant black dog that is definitely not a member of the American Kennel Association—takes a running leap and knocks me flat on my back in the dirt.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘black dog’.
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metaphoric references to dogs
As an ongoing part of my project, Dogs in Metaphor and Idiom, Illustrated, (www.metaphordogs.org) I am continually adding terms. If you know a term that fi...
dog, alpha male, at bay, bark, bird dog, bitch, bitchin, bloodhound, bulldog, canaille, canines, cerberus and 131 more...
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MYTH - spooky creatures
carrion-eater, solar bird, giant boar, black dog, guardian, fire giant, marsh nymph, fish pike, undead, skeleton, horned snake, pegasus and 607 more...
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black phrases/words
Tolkien worked in the black section
of the dictionary at one point in his lifeblack-about, Black Act, black afraid, black Africa, black African, black amber, Black America, Black American, black and blae, black and blue, black angry, black ant and 578 more...
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I Am A Starfish. I Speak With Paint.
List title totally stolen from she. Right, the stock entry for this list should be a two-word phrase where one of the words denotes a colour; even better if the expression has some metaphoric value...
black dog, tangerine dream, orange roughy, blue moon, blackguard, white house, purple rain, grey nurse, green thumb, yellow fever, sacre bleu, palo verde and 159 more...
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supernatural creatures according to M...
Turned this up on etymonline.com (link). It's amazing.
Hobbit (n.)
1937, coined in the fantasy tales of J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973).
On a blank leaf I scrawled: 'In a hole...niss, nisses, thrummy-cap, fairy, whitewoman, nicknevin, sibyl, fates, sprite, gnome, cuttie, scrat and 186 more...
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Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Down in the dumps, feeling blue? Here, then, is a list for you...
feeling blue, down in the dumps, blue devils, mulligrubs, mubblefubbles, melancholy, lugubrious, gloomy gus, eeyore, doleful, woeful, woebegone and 86 more...
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Malcolm-Hex
Words where 'black' has a negative connotation.
The awareness of this has been more publically discussed since the 60's, however with the 2008 presidental race, I am curious if any of ...black sheep, blacklist, blackmail, blackball, black hat, black mark, black day, black magic, black market, blackhole, black monday, black comedy and 65 more...
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The Devil and His Imps
Names of 'the Devil himself, the devils his "flaming ministers", household goblins, rural demons, bogles, sprites, and fairies of all kinds' mentioned in Charles P.G. Scott's 'The Devil and His Imp...
devil, devilet, deviling, dablet, black angel, black man, black bear, black bull, black dog, bogle, bogie, boggard and 128 more...
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Black or White
black and white, snow-white, coal-black, blacksmith, whitesmith, blackball, white-box testing, Blackberry, white pages, black book, white paper, blacklist and 107 more...
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Noah's Park
Hello, and Welcome™! Come and visit our most diverse land of our Animalesque™ adventures. Here at Noah's Park™ we have Virtually All You'd Ever Want To See™. An experience that is related to ani...
sheep's eyes, doe-eyed, cat-eyed, bug-eyed, cat's paw, black swan, leapfrog, menagerie, cold turkey, card shark, snail's pace, bull's eye and 362 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (B)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
balcony, bailey, baguette, bairn, balalaika, baldric, balefire, baby's breath, ballet, balm of gilead, balsam, baluster and 188 more...
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Conversations for the Ages
A list of words that have fascinating conversations on them. Or just, you know, really funny ones. If I missed any, I hope someone will let me know...
Also see a few other Wordizens' l...misuse, slough of despond, drinking problem, sausage fest, vergerhade, baromets, todal, googlewhack, quetzalcoatl, cheesewa, cheesois, absinthe and 187 more...
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bestiary
hippogryph, cockatrice, lamia, basilisk, centaur, cerastes, manticore, mermaid, strix, sphinx, loup garou, echeneis and 34 more...
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folklore/mythology
kelpie, hobgoblin, manticore, selkie, chupacabra, korrigan, chimera, doppelganger, bunyip, banshee, basilisk, mara and 20 more...
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Mythical creatures
dragon, griffin, unicorn, chimera, centaur, minotaur, cameleopard, zahhak, azhi dahaka, ouroborus, draco, leviathan and 77 more...
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Sweet spirits of cats a-fighting
Moonshine words and some terms used for the D.T.'s.
white lightning, sugar whiskey, skull cracker, popskull, bush whiskey, stump, stumphole, 'splo, ruckus juice, rotgut, catdaddy, mule kick and 34 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for black dog.

colleen I think that Dr. John does as well! Oct 10, 2007
chained_bear Tanglefoot does a song called Loup Garou. That's the first I ever heard of it (coupla two-three years ago). Oct 10, 2007
trivet Oooh - another figment - I like the picture:) Oct 3, 2007
reesetee Creepy. However it's spelled, it sounds like a cousin to the Jersey Devil. Oct 3, 2007
colleen Mm, yeah. That would be the rougarou, if she was down thattaway... Oct 3, 2007
trivet C_b, maybe you saw the Loup Garou...
How close were you to Louisiana? Oct 3, 2007
colleen Point! Oct 3, 2007
reesetee I would be. But I'll bet chained_bear wouldn't. ;-) Oct 3, 2007
colleen You'd be amazed what you find in Mississippi. Oct 3, 2007
reesetee Hmm. Must have been rural Mississippi, then. Oct 2, 2007
chained_bear Nah. This one was huge and had glowing eyes. Mine is small and... well, has glowing eyes. Oct 2, 2007
reesetee Are you sure it wasn't this dog? Oct 2, 2007
chained_bear Thanks colleen. Why didn't I think of searching the Internet? *smacks forehead*
BTW, I saw one once. But I think it was a hallucination from lack of sleep and/or rural Mississippi.
Don't ask. Oct 2, 2007
uselessness Sherlock Holmes. I need to read those again. Oct 2, 2007
reesetee You're right, John. That is a horribly named site. But this is a very interesting (and I think apt) expression to describe depression.
I didn't mean to rhyme there. It just happened. Oct 2, 2007
colleen It's just a death portent, like the "Hound of the Baskervilles." Sometimes just seeing it is enough, sometimes it, pun intentded, dogs you a bit before you die.
wiki entry, which covers most of the bases. Oct 2, 2007
chained_bear I think there's quite a bit of folk legend in England surrounding black dogs as apparitions or haunting figures. I wonder if that's where Mr. Churchill came up with the phrase--which does appropriately describe depression, if you ask me. I wish I remembered more about the legends to explain them properly. Perhaps someone else more knowledgeable will pipe up. Oct 2, 2007
john Slang, generally British, for depression. Winston Churchill referred to his depression as his "black dog," but according to this horribly named site the term predates his use. Oct 2, 2007