Forms: 1 fríȝedæȝ, fríȝdæȝ, 3 fridæí, 2–3 fridai, 3 south. vridei, vridawe, vryday, 3–7 fryday, 4–6 frydaye, (4 fredaye), 6 fridaie, 3– friday. [OE. fríȝedæȝ, ‘day of (the goddess) Fríȝ’; 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. Fríȝ 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 Friȝe-dæȝ.
c. 1050. Byrhtferth’s Handboc, in Anglia (1885), VIII. 302. Frigedæg, wodnesdæg, sæternes dæg.
a. 1123. O. E. Chron. an. 1106. On þone Friȝe dæȝ … ætywde an unȝewunelic steorra.
1154. O. E. Chron., an. 1137 (Laud MS.). & on lang fridæi him on rode hengen for ure Drihtines luue.
c. 1205. Lay., 13931.
| Freon heore læfdi | |
| heo ȝiuen hire fridæi. |
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 229.
| Þer uore þe Englysse clupede, after Woden, Wodnesday, | |
| Þat ys day in þe wouke, and, 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, | |
| Þat Iudas and Iewes · Iesus thei mette. |
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), vii. 76. And there is a Lampe, that hongethe before the Sepulcre, that brennethe lighte: and on the Gode Fryday, it gothe out be him self.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), III. 1513.
| And on þe fryday, god mad man, | |
| as it pleȝett his hynesse most. |
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 303 b. The sixth chapiter sheweth a meditacyon for Fryday.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, 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. J. Boys, Exp. Epist. & Gosp. (1622), 203. Let me tell them of another schoole-tricke at the worlds end there is a blacke-friday, a generall examination.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Mahomet (1637), 19–20. 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, The Prayer Book Interleaved (1876), 115. The term Good Friday is peculiar to the English Church.
1887. Benham, Dict. Relig., 476/2. 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. Lady 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. Why Friday, askest thou, O reader? Dies Veneris.
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. Can. No, you *Friday-fac’t-frying-pan.
1606. Wily Beguiled, in T. Hawkins, Eng. Drama (1773), III. 356. What a friday-fac’d slave it is! I think in my conscience, his face never keeps holiday.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., xlix.
| That he might haue his Capons, *fryday fare, | |
| And Peter’s Sheet for Lent, his Table Cloth. |
1864. Tennyson, En. Ard., 99.
| And peacock-yewtree of 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, with a blessed Jesu! and a mournful Ditty for the Vices of the Times: Oh! then he is a Saint upon Earth.
1633. Rowley, Match Midnight, I. Lieut. A plague of *Friday mornings! the most unfortunate day in the whole week.
