A.Word.A.Day --man Friday

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man Friday

PRONUNCIATION:

(man FRY-day)

MEANING:

noun: A man who is an efficient and faithful aide to someone.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Friday, a character in the novel Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe. Crusoe named him Friday because that was the day they met. Crusoe often referred to him as his man Friday. By extension, the term girl Friday is used for a female. Earliest documented example of the word used allusively: 1809.

USAGE:

"It was almost as if Kalnirnay was the Jeeves of the houses, always at hand. And in many ways, Kalnirnay today has become the man Friday of millions of Indians."
Gaurav Pai; KNY; The Economic Times (New Delhi, India); Mar 18, 2009.

See more usage examples of man Friday in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. -Jean de la Bruyere, essayist and moralist (1645-1696)

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