Word Direct Answers

What does "friend" mean?

Friend: 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.3. 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.
  2. 3.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.
  3. 4.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 Cæsar." Shak. -- To make friends with, to become reconciled to or on friendly terms with. "Having now made friends with the Athenians." Jowett (Thucyd. ).
  4. 5.To act as the friend of; to favor; to countenance; to befriend. [Obs.] Fortune friends the bold. Spenser.

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