Word.ws English Dictionary

black dog

black dog noun: depression, melancholy.

Noun

the black dog

  1. (euphemistic) Depression, melancholy.
    • A light seen suddenly in the storm, snow / Coming from all sides, like flakes / Of sleep, and myself / On the road to the dark barn, / Halfway there, a black dog near me1967, Robert Bly, “Melancholia”, in The Light Around the Body
    • There's a black dog on my shoulder again / I'm playing with it but it's gone to my head1998, “Black Dog On My Shoulder”, in This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, performed by Manic Street Preachers
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see black, dog.

Proper noun capitalized: Black Dog

Black Dog

  1. A small village in Washford Pyne parish and Woolfardisworthy parish, Mid Devon district, Devon, England (OS grid ref SS8009).

black dog meaning in Tamil

black dog in Tamil

நெஞ்சைப்புகவாள், சிடுசிடுப்பு, சிடுசிடுப்பர்

Examples of black dog in a sentence

  • I can't breathe, feed the black dog / Refuse to breathe, refuse to fuck2014, “They Told Me It Rained”, in Carry On the Grudge, performed by Jamie T:
  • Apologies, Miss Armstrong, the black dog has got me in its teeth.2018, Kate Atkinson, Transcription, →ISBN, page 111:
  • I take a jump off the fire escape / To make the black dog go away2020, “Black Dog”, in AP1, performed by Arlo Parks:

Origin of black dog

A personification, attested from 1826. Popularized by Winston Churchill, although it is not clear if he specifically referred to mental health.

Apparently named after a public house.

Questions about black dog

What does black dog mean?
Black dog means depression, melancholy.
What is black dog in Tamil?
Black dog in Tamil is நெஞ்சைப்புகவாள், சிடுசிடுப்பு, சிடுசிடுப்பர். See Black dog meaning in Tamil.
How do you use black dog in a sentence?
I can't breathe, feed the black dog / Refuse to breathe, refuse to fuck
What part of speech is black dog?
Black dog can be a noun or a proper noun.

Words near black dog in the dictionary

  1. black days
  2. Black Death
  3. black diamond
  4. black diamonds
  5. Black Ditch
  6. black dog
  7. black dog syndrome
  8. black dolphin
  9. black dolphins
  10. black don't crack
  11. black dose

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: black dog (page history and authors); Black Dog (page history and authors); black dog (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “black dog.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/black_dog. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.