Meanings
adjective
- mediaWritten or printed in black letter.
a black-letter manuscript or book
1 more example
In the summer of 1877, a gentleman with whom I was well acquainted, took lodgings in Preston-street, Brighton. The morning after his arrival, he found in the W.C. some leaves of an old black-letter book.
1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 54 - figurativelyGiven to the study of books in black letter; old-fashioned.
Kemble, a black-letter man!
1833, James Boaden, Memoirs of Mrs. Inchbald - Of or relating to the days in the calendar not marked with red letters as saints' days; unlucky; inauspicious.
black-letter days
Cite this entry
APA
black-letter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/black-letter
MLA
“black-letter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/black-letter. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “black-letter,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/black-letter.
Source: black-letter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.