friend

plural friends · alternative pronunciation spelling frind · alternative misspelling freind

1. 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.

   1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Friendship”, in Essays, volume I

   5 more examples

   "[…]if you have any wish to speak openly to me as a friend, or to ask my opinion of any thing that you may have in contemplation—as a friend, indeed, you may command me.—I will hear whatever you like. I will tell you exactly what I think." "As a friend!"—repeated Mr. Knightley.—"Emma, that I fear is a word—No, I have no wish—[…]”

   1816, Jane Austen, Emma

   ...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.

   1917, Richard M. Gummere translating Seneca as Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales, Loeb Classical Library, Vol. I, No. 3

   ...he who looks upon a true friend, looks, as it were, upon a sort of image of himself. Wherefore friends, though absent, are at hand; though in need, yet abound; though weak, are strong; and—harder saying still—though dead, are yet alive; so great is the esteem on the part of their friends, the tender recollection and the deep longing that still attends them.

   1923, William Armistead Falconer translating Cicero as De Amicitia, Loeb Classical Library, Vol. XX, p. 34

   ...you are my devoted friend too. You do more and work harder and oh shit I'd get maudlin about how damned swell you are. My god I'd like to see you... You're a hell of a good guy.

   1927 Mar. 31, Ernest Hemingway, letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald

   Definition of a friend: One who walks in—when the rest of the world walks out.

   1933 Dec. 12, Walter Winchell, "On Broadway", Scranton Republican, p. 5

2. An associate who provides assistance; patron, mentor.

   The Automobile Association is every motorist's friend. The police is every law-abiding citizen's friend.

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

   1779, Benjamin Franklin, The Whistle (letter)

   The vicious propensities—the want of principle which he was careful to guard from the knowledge of his best friend, could not escape the observation of a young man of nearly the same age with himself, and who had opportunities of seeing him in unguarded moments, which Mr. Darcy could not have.

   1813, Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

   There was a Boy whose name was Jim; His Friends were very good to him. They gave him Tea, and Cakes, and Jam, And slices of delicious Ham, And Chocolate with pink inside, And little Tricycles to ride, And read him Stories through and through, And even took him to the Zoo—

   1907, Hilaire Belloc, Jim (poem)

3. A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted.

   a friend of a friend

   2 more examples

   The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",[…]and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.

   2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27

   I added him as a friend on Facebook, but I hardly know him.

   Synonyms: acquaintance, contact

4. A person who backs or supports something.

   I’m not a friend of cheap wine.

   Synonyms: admirer, booster, champion, protagonist, supporter

5. informalAn object or idea that can be used for good.

   Fruit is your friend.

6. colloquialironicUsed as a form of address when warning someone.

   You’d better watch it, friend.

   Synonyms: buster, mate, pal, buddy, sonny

7. object-oriented programmingA function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of another class.

   In that case, the function needn't (and shouldn't) be a friend.

   2001, Stephen Prata, C++ primer plus

   2 more examples

   But don't take the following sections as an endorsement of friends. Top C++ programmers avoid using friends unless absolutely necessary.

   1991, Tom Swan, Learning C++

   To make a function be a friend to a class, the reserved word friend precedes the function prototype[…]

   2008, D S Malik, C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

8. climbingA spring-loaded camming device.

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

   1995, Rock Climbing Basics

9. euphemisticA lover; a boyfriend or girlfriend.

   I met your friend. She's very nice, what can I say?

   1975, Janis Ian, In the Winter

   2 more examples

   Nor to the motion of a schoolboy's tongue ; Nor never come in visard to my friend

   c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]

   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 […]

   1813, Samuel Foote, The Commissary, Etc., page 17

   Synonyms: lover

10. ScotlandobsoleteA relative, a relation by blood or marriage.

    Make friends of framet folk.

    2 more examples

    Friends agree best at a distance.

    He was not a drop's blood to me, though him and my wife were far-out friends.

    1895, Crockett, Bog-Myrtle, 232

11. in pluralusually preceded by "and"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.

    1 more example

    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[…]

    2020, Beth Van Schaack, Imagining Justice for Syria, →ISBN, page 98

    Synonyms: company, et al.

present singular third person friends · participle present friending · participle past friended · past friended · alternative pronunciation spelling frind · alternative misspelling freind

1. obsoletetransitiveTo 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 [...].

   1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii

   1 more example

   ’Tis true, the stuff I bring for sale Is not so brisk a brew as ale: Out of a stem that scored the hand I wrung it in a weary land. But take it: if the smack is sour, The better for the embittered hour; It should do good to heart and head When your soul is in my soul’s stead; And I will friend you, if I may, In the dark and cloudy day.

   1896, Alfred Edward Housman, A Shropshire Lad, section LXII

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

   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).

   2007, David Fono, Kate Raynes-Goldie, “Hyperfriendship and Beyond: Friends and Social Norms on LiveJournal”, in Mia Consalvo, Caroline Haythornthwaite, editors, Internet Research Annual: Selected Papers from the Association of Internet Researchers Conference 2005 (Digital Formations; 33), volume 4, New York, N.Y.: Peter Lang, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 99

   2 more examples

   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.

   2006, Kevin Farnham, Dale G. Farnham, Myspace Safety: 51 Tips for Teens And Parents, How-To Primers, →ISBN, page 69

   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.

   2018, Tommy Orange, “Edwin Black”, in There There, New York, N.Y.: Vintage Books, →ISBN, page 69

   Antonyms: defriend, unfriend

plural Friends

1. A Quaker; a member of the Society of Friends. (See also Friends.)
2. rock-climbingBrand name of a spring-loaded camming device, now used to refer to any such device, often uncapitalized, as friend.

1. A surname transferred from the common noun.
2. A place in the United States:
   1. An unincorporated community in Terry Township, Finney County, Kansas.
   2. A minor city in Saline County, Nebraska, named after Charles E. Friend.
   3. A ghost town in Wasco County, Oregon, named after George J. Friend.