English
friend
see also: Friend
Pronunciation
  • enPR: frĕnd, IPA: /fɹɛnd/, [fɹ̥end̥]
  • (obsolete) IPA: /frɪnd/
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.
    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.
  2. A boyfriend or girlfriend.
  3. An associate who provides assistance.
    The Automobile Association is every motorist's friend.   The police is every law-abiding citizen's friend.
  4. A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted.
    a friend of a friend;  I added him as a friend on Facebook, but I hardly know him.
  5. A person who backs or supports something.
    I’m not a friend of cheap wine.
  6. (informal) An object or idea that can be used for good.
    Wiktionary is your friend.
  7. (colloquial, ironic, used only in the vocative) Used as a form of address when warning someone.
    You’d better watch it, friend.
  8. (object-oriented programming) A function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of another class.
  9. (climbing) A spring-loaded camming device.
    • 1995, Rock Climbing Basics
      Since they were introduced in the 1970s, friends have revolutionized climbing, making protection possible in previously impossible places […]
  10. (obsolete) A paramour of either sex.
  11. (Scotland, obsolete) A relative.
Synonyms Antonyms
  • (person whose company one enjoys) seeSynonyms en
  • (person with whom you are acquainted) stranger
  • (person who provides assistance) enemy, foe
Verb

friend (friends, present participle friending; past and past participle friended)

  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 [...].
    • 1896, Alfred Edward Housman, A Shropshire Lad, LXII:
      ’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.
  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, "[http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:wXH9NWhjSq8J:k4t3.org/publications/hyperfriendship.pdf+%22Hyperfriendship+and+Beyond%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a 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 Antonyms Translations Translations
  • French: se lier d'amitié
  • Portuguese: amigar, marcar como amigo
  • Russian: зафре́ндить
  • Spanish: amistar, hacer amigos
Friend
Noun

friend (plural friends)

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


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