English · Idiom Historical

Black Arl

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

The art practised by conjurors, wizards, and others who professed to have dealings with the devil; so called from the idea that necromancy (<?.v.) was connected with the Lat. niger, black.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Phép thuật của những người hành nghề phù thủy

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Black & white Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “Black Arl” mean?

The art practised by conjurors, wizards, and others who professed to have dealings with the devil; so called from the idea that necromancy (<?.v.) was connected with the Lat. niger, black.

Is “Black Arl” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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