friend

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A person, typically someone other than a family member, spouse or lover, whose company…

   A person, typically someone other than a family member, spouse or lover, whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection.

   • The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.
   • ...if you consider any man a friend whom you do not trust as you trust yourself, you are mightily mistaken and you do not sufficiently understand what true friendship means.
2. 2

   An associate who provides assistance

   An associate who provides assistance; patron, mentor.

   • When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my little pocket with halfpence.
3. 3

   A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted.

   • a friend of a friend
   • I added him as a friend on Facebook, but I hardly know him.
4. ›+ 14 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A person who backs or supports something.

      • I’m not a friend of cheap wine.
   2. 5

      An object or idea that can be used for good.

      • Fruit is your friend.
   3. 6

      Used as a form of address when warning someone.

      • You’d better watch it, friend.
   4. 7

      A function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of…

      A function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of another class.

      • But don't take the following sections as an endorsement of friends. Top C++ programmers avoid using friends unless absolutely necessary.
      • In that case, the function needn't (and shouldn't) be a friend.
      • To make a function be a friend to a class, the reserved word friend precedes the function prototype[…]
   5. 8

      A spring-loaded camming device.

      • Since they were introduced in the 1970s, friends have revolutionized climbing, making protection possible in previously impossible places […]
   6. 9

      A lover

      A lover; a boyfriend or girlfriend.

      • Nor to the motion of a schoolboy's tongue ; Nor never come in visard to my friend
      • Time has been, when a gentleman wanted a friend, I could supply him with choice in an hour; but the market is spoiled, and a body might as soon produce a hare or a partridge […]
      • I met your friend. She's very nice, what can I say?
   7. 10

      A relative, a relation by blood or marriage.

      • Friends agree best at a distance.
      • Make friends of framet folk.
      • He was not a drop's blood to me, though him and my wife were far-out friends.
   8. 11

      Used to refer collectively to a group of associated individuals, especially those…

      Used to refer collectively to a group of associated individuals, especially those comprising a cast, company, or crew

      • Meanwhile on The View, Whoopi Goldberg and friends continue to spout their takes on the hot topics of the day.
      • Russia and friends continued to criticize the work of the JIM, focusing in particular on the methodology employed and the decision of the experts not to go to certain on-site visits for security reasons[…]
   9. 12

      To act as a friend to, to befriend

      To act as a friend to, to befriend; to be friendly to, to help.

      • Lo sluggish Knight the victors happie pray: / So fortune friends the bold [...].
   10. 13

       To add (a person) to a list of friends on a social networking site

       To add (a person) to a list of friends on a social networking site; to officially designate (someone) as a friend.

       • One of the most used features of MySpace is the practice that is nicknamed "friending." If you "friend" someone, then that person is added to your MySpace friends list, and you are added to their friends list.
       • The two distributions which exhibited this property were in response to the statements, “I am careful about who I friend,” and, “If someone friends me, I will friend them.” (Figure 3).
       • I use Native, that’s what other Native people on Facebook use. I have 660 friends. Tons of Native friends in my feed. Most of my friends, though, are people I don’t know, who’d happily friended me upon request.
   11. 14

       A Quaker

       A Quaker; a member of the Society of Friends. (See also Friends.)

   12. 15

       Brand name of a spring-loaded camming device, now used to refer to any such device, often…

       Brand name of a spring-loaded camming device, now used to refer to any such device, often uncapitalized, as friend.

   13. 16

       A surname transferred from the common noun.

   14. 17

       A place in the United States

       A place in the United States:

The neighborhood

• synonymallysympathizer, helper
• synonymbabber
• synonymbilly
• synonymbredrin
• synonymbruv
• synonymbud
• synonymbuddo
• synonymbutty
• synonymchaver
• synonymchina
• synonymchuck
• synonymchum
• antonymenemyantonym(s) of
• antonymstrangerantonym(s) of “person with whom you are acquainted”
• antonymfoeantonym(s) of “person who provides assistance”
• antonymasshole
• antonymbitchy-pants
• antonymcreep
• antonymfalse friend
• antonymfiend
• antonymhorse's ass
• antonymjerk
• antonymnemesis
• antonympill
• neighborally
• neighborbedfellow
• neighborbedmate
• neighborchildhood friend
• neighborclassmate
• neighborcompatriot
• neighborco-worker
• neighborfair-weather friend
• neighborfamily friend
• neighborfellow traveller
• neighborflatmate
• neighborfrenemy