Meaning of man Friday | Babel Free

Definitions

1. 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.
2. An aborigine or native, especially one who inhabits an island.
   derogatory

Equivalents

Examples

“This man—our lackey, our servant, our unquestioning slave though he was, was still a gentleman— […] We asked our man Friday’s name.”

“Nothing is less true, as far as intellectual initiative is concerned, than the idea that those who are good in obeying will also be good in commanding. Very similar difficulties arise in political parties: the ‘Man Friday’ of the party leader is seldom a capable successor.”

“Unfortunately along with the Birds go some few Tarzans or Men Fridays whose origins are obscure, and who are being hopefully wished on to Mauritius etc.”

handwritten note on a confidential diplomatic cable relating to the depopulation of the Chagos Archipelago

CEFR level