English · Idiom Historical

The Man in Black

Preserved but no longer current.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

A well-known character in Goldsmith's Citizen of the World1, supposed to have been drawn from the author's father.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Một nhân vật trong Citizen of the World

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 “The Man in Black” mean?

A well-known character in Goldsmith's Citizen of the World1, supposed to have been drawn from the author's father.

Is “The Man in Black” formal or informal?

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

👁 Views 0 today 0 past 7 days 0 this month 0 all time