man Friday
UK /ˌmæn ˈfɹaɪdeɪ/ · US /ˌmæn ˈfɹaɪˌdeɪ/ noun
Forms man Fridays men Friday men Fridays
- noun A trusted man whose job is to assist and organize someone else's day-to-day business or personal tasks; a personal assistant, a right-hand man; also, a trusted male companion.
- noun (derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) An aborigine or native, especially one who inhabits an island.
Synonyms
Etymology
From man (“adult male servant”) + Friday, coined by the English writer Daniel Defoe (c. 1660 – 1731) in his novel Robinson Crusoe (1719) as the name of the protagonist Crusoe’s companion and servant; he is rescued by Crusoe from cannibal captives on a Friday. Crusoe frequently refers to him as “my man Friday”.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “man Friday”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details