hail-fellow

1. not comparableSynonym of hail-fellow-well-met.

   And there were ministers of many creeds,—pastors of great, gilt-edged congregations, at the seaside for a rest, with shepherds of the regular work,—from the priests of the Church on the Hill to bush-bearded ex-sailor Lutherans, hail-fellow with the men of a score of boats.

   1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous

   Synonyms: hail-fellow-well-met

plural hail-fellows

1. datedA close acquaintance.

   that being forbidden to be bold thou shouldst grow impudent, or being suffered to be familiar thou shouldst wax hail-fellow?.

   1580, John Lyly, Euphues and His England

   1 more example

   Losing money every time he sold a beast, wasting stamps galore on letters to endless auctioneers, frequently remaining in town half a week at a stretch, and being hail-fellow to all the spongers to be found on the trail of such as he, quickly left him on the verge of bankruptcy. Some of his contemporaries say it was grog that did it all.

   1901, Miles Franklin, My Brilliant Career, Chapter 4