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.
Friend (fr&ebreve;nd), n. [OR. frend,
freond, AS. freónd, prop. p. pr. of
freón, freógan, to love; akin to
D. vriend friend, OS. friund friend,
friohan to love, OHG.
friunt friend, G.
freund, Icel. frændi kinsman, Sw. frände. Goth. frijōnds friend, frijōn to love. √83. See Free, and cf. Fiend.]
1. One who
entertains for another such sentiments of esteem, respect, and affection that he seeks his society and 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 Cæsar." Shak. -- To
make friends with, to become reconciled to or on friendly terms with. "Having now made friends with the Athenians." Jowett (Thucyd.).
Hear it pronounced