Definitions for: Friend


[n] a member of the Religious Society of Friends founded by George Fox (the Friends have never called themselves Quakers)
[n] a person with whom you are acquainted; "I have trouble remembering the names of all my acquaintances"; "we are friends of the family"
[n] an associate who provides assistance; "he's a good ally in fight"; "they were friends of the workers"
[n] a person you know well and regard with affection and trust; "he was my best friend at the university"
[n] a person who backs a politician or a team etc.; "all their supporters came out for the game"; "they are friends of the library"



Webster (1913) Definition: Friend (fr[e^]nd), n. [OR. frend, freond, AS.
fre['o]nd, prop. p. pr. of fre['o]n, fre['o]gan, to love;
akin to D. vriend friend, OS. friund friend, friohan to love,
OHG. friunt friend, G. freund, Icel. fr[ae]ndi kinsman, Sw.
fr["a]nde. Goth. frij[=o]nds friend, frij[=o]n to love.
[root]83. See Free, and cf. Fiend.]
1. One who entertains for another such sentiments of esteem,
respect, and affection that he seeks his society aud
welfare; a wellwisher; an intimate associate; sometimes,
an attendant.

Want gives to know the flatterer from the friend.
--Dryden.

A friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
--Prov. xviii.
24.

2. One not inimical or hostile; one not a foe or enemy; also,
one of the same nation, party, kin, etc., whose friendly
feelings may be assumed. The word is some times used as a
term of friendly address.

Friend, how camest thou in hither? --Matt. xxii.
12.

3. One who looks propitiously on a cause, an institution, a
project, and the like; a favorer; a promoter; as, a friend
to commerce, to poetry, to an institution.

4. One of a religious sect characterized by disuse of outward
rites and an ordained ministry, by simplicity of dress and
speech, and esp. by opposition to war and a desire to live
at peace with all men. They are popularly called Quakers.

America was first visited by Friends in 1656. --T.
Chase.

5. A paramour of either sex. [Obs.] --Shak.

A friend at court or in court, one disposed to act as a
friend in a place of special opportunity or influence.

To be friends with, to have friendly relations with. ``He's
. . . friends with C[ae]sar.'' --Shak.

To make friends with, to become reconciled to or on
friendly terms with. ``Having now made friends with the
Athenians.'' --Jowett (Thucyd.).


Friend, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Friended; p. pr. & vb. n.
Friending.]
To act as the friend of; to favor; to countenance; to
befriend. [Obs.]

Fortune friends the bold. --Spenser.

Synonyms: acquaintance, admirer, ally, booster, champion, protagonist, Quaker, supporter

Antonyms: enemy, foe

See Also: advocate, advocator, alter ego, amigo, anglophil, anglophile, associate, believer, best friend, blood brother, Boswell, brother, buddy, bunkmate, campmate, Christian, chum, class fellow, classmate, companion, comrade, Confederate, confidant, connection, convert, crony, Damon, Damon and Pythias, end man, endorser, enthusiast, exponent, familiar, fellow, flatmate, Francophil, Francophile, free trader, functionalist, girlfriend, Graecophile, homeboy, human, individual, intimate, Jacobite, light, loyalist, mainstay, maintainer, mate, messmate, mortal, New Dealer, pal, partisan, partizan, Penn, person, philhellene, philhellenist, Phintias, pickup, pillar, proponent, Pythias, Quakers, ratifier, Religious Society of Friends, roommate, Roundhead, schoolfellow, schoolfriend, schoolmate, seconder, Shavian, sidekick, Society of Friends, somebody, someone, soul, stalwart, subscriber, sustainer, sympathiser, sympathizer, toaster, truster, upholder, verifier, voucher, wassailer, well-wisher, Whig, William Penn

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