black friday

Black Friday \Black Friday\
   Any Friday on which a public disaster has occurred, as: In
   England, December 6, 1745, when the news of the landing of
   the Pretender reached London, or May 11, 1866, when a
   financial panic commenced. In the United States, September
   24, 1869, and September 18, 1873, on which financial panics
   began, and especially October 29, 1929, when a dramatic drop
   in stock prices contributed to the factors which began the
   great depression of the 1930's.
   [Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]

         The last week of October 1929 remains forever imprinted
         in the American memory.
         It was, of course, the week of the Great Crash, the
         stock market collapse that signaled the collapse of the
         world economy and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
         From an all-time high of 381 in early September 1929,
         the Dow Jones Industrial Average drifted down to a
         level of 326 on October 22, then, in a series of
         traumatic selling waves, to 230 in the course of the
         following six trading days.
         The stock market�s drop was far from over; it continued
         its sickening slide for nearly three more years,
         reaching an ultimate low of 41 in July 1932. But it was
         that last week of October 1929 that burned itself into
         the American consciousness. After a decade of
         unprecedented boom and prosperity, there suddenly was
         panic, fear, a yawning gap in the American fabric. The
         party was over.                          --Wall street
                                                  Journal,
                                                  October 28,
                                                  1977
   [PJC]