• Friend

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /fɹɛnd/
    • Rhymes: -É›nd

    Origin

    From Middle English frende, frend, freond, from Old English frēond ("friend, relative, lover", literally loving-one), from Proto-Germanic *frijōndz ("lover, friend"), from Proto-Indo-European *prēy-, *prāy- ("to like, love"). Cognate with West Frisian freon, froen, freondinne ("friend"), Dutch vriend ("friend"), Low German frund, fründ ("friend, relative"), German Freund ("friend"), Danish frænde ("kinsman"), Swedish frände ("kinsman, relative"), Icelandic frændi ("kinsman"), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳𐍃 (frijōnds, "friend"). More at free.

    Full definition of friend

    Noun

    friend

    (plural friends)
    1. A person other than a family member, spouse or lover whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection.
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 1, However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.
    2. John and I have been friends ever since we were roommates at college.   Trust is important between friends.   I used to find it hard to make friends when I was shy.
    3. A boyfriend or girlfriend.
    4. An associate who provides assistance.
      The Automobile Association is every motorist’s friend.   The police is every law abiding citizen’s friend.
    5. A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted
      • 2013-06-21, Oliver Burkeman, The tao of tech, 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.
    6. a friend of a friend;  I added him as a friend on Facebook, but I hardly know him.
    7. A person who backs or supports something.
      I’m not a friend of cheap wine.
    8. (informal) An object or idea that can be used for good.
      Google is your friend.
    9. (colloquial, ironic, used only in the vocative) Used as a form of address when warning someone.
      You’d better watch it, friend.
    10. (computing, programming) In object-oriented programming, a function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of another class.
      • 1991, Tom Swan, Learning C++But don't take the following sections as an endorsement of friends. Top C++ programmers avoid using friends unless absolutely necessary.
      • 2001, Stephen Prata, C++ primer plusIn that case, the function needn't (and shouldn't) be a friend.
      • 2008, D S Malik, C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program DesignTo make a function be a friend to a class, the reserved word friend precedes the function prototype...
    11. (obsolete) A paramour of either sex.

    Synonyms

    Antonyms

    Usage notes

    We usually make a friend, or make friends with someone. See

    Derived terms

    Term derived from friend (noun)

    Verb

    1. (transitive, obsolete) To act as a friend to, to befriend; to be friendly to, to help.
      • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii:Lo sluggish Knight the victors happie pray:
        So fortune friends the bold ....
    2. (transitive) To add (a person) to a list of friends on a social networking site; to officially designate (someone) as a friend.
      • 2006, David Fono and Kate Raynes-Goldie, "Hyperfriendship and Beyond: Friends and Social Norms on LiveJournal" (PDF version), Internet Research Annual Volume 4, Peter Lang, ISBN 0820478571, page 99,The difference between responses to the statement, "If someone friends me, I will friend them," and "If I friend someone, I expect them to friend me back," is telling.
      • 2006, Kevin Farnham and Dale G. Farnham, Myspace Safety: 51 Tips for Teens And Parents, How-To Primers, ISBN 0977883353, page 69,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.

    Synonyms

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