The Collaborative International Dictionary
Black-letter \Black"-let`ter\, a.
Written or printed in black letter; as, a black-letter manuscript or book.
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Given to the study of books in black letter; that is, of old books; out of date.
Kemble, a black-letter man!
--J. Boaden. Of or pertaining to the days in the calendar not marked with red letters as saints' days; -- compare red-letter. Hence: Unlucky; inauspicious.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (attributive of black letter English) 2 Written or printed in black letter. 3 Given to the study of books in black letter; old-fashioned. 4 Of or relating to the days in the calendar not marked with red letters as saints' days; unlucky; inauspicious.
Usage examples of "black-letter".
No doubt, on the fame of this new learning reaching his ears, the Vincey of the day, perhaps that same John de Vincey who years before had saved the relic from destruction and made the black-letter entry on the sherd in 1445, hurried off to Oxford to see if perchance it might avail to dissolve the secret of the mysterious inscription.
And now there remained but one more document to be examined--namely, the ancient black-letter transcription into mediaeval Latin of the uncial inscription on the sherd.
Was she an helpmeet for a black-letter man, who talked with the Fathers in his daily walks, could extemporise Latin hexameters, and dream in Greek.
True enough, thought I, as this passage occurred to my mind--old black-letter, thou reasonest well.
On what principle the remuneration of our parish clergymen was settled when the original settlement was made, no deepest, keenest, lover of middle-aged ecclesiastical black-letter learning can, I take it, now say.