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backfriend

noun
/ˈbækˌfɹɛnd/US

Etymology

From back (adverb or noun) + friend. Sense 3 (“person who pretends to be someone’s friend”) may allude to a person who stays back instead of coming forward to help, and so is not a true friend.

  1. derived from *preyH-✻ — “to please; to love”
  2. inherited from *frijōndz✻ — “friend, loved one”
  3. inherited from *friund✻
  4. inherited from frēond
  5. inherited from freend
  6. compounded as backfriend — “back + friend”

Definitions

  1. A friend who supports someone

    A friend who supports someone; a person who has someone's back; a backer, a supporter.

  2. Synonym of hangnail (“a loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge…

    Synonym of hangnail (“a loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge and anchored near the base of a fingernail or toenail”).

    • […] Corrie bit another atom from off the corner of his nail. He had a troublesome "back-friend" or "agnail," at which he often bit.

  3. A person who pretends to be someone's friend

    A person who pretends to be someone's friend; a false friend, a secret enemy.

    • A Feind, a Fairie, pittileſſe and ruffe: / A VVolfe, nay vvorſe, a fellovv all in buffe: / A back friend, a ſhoulder-clapper, one that countermãds / The paſſages of allies, creekes, and narrovv lands: […]
    • […] VVeſtmorland thought it ſafeſt to checke the Scots, as the neerer and continuall backe-friends.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for backfriend. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA