friend

Etymology

From Middle English frend, freend, from Old English frēond (“friend”, literally “loving[-one], lover”), from Proto-West Germanic *friund, from Proto-Germanic *frijōndz (“lover, friend”), from Proto-Indo-European *preyH- (“to like, love”), equivalent to free + -nd. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Fjund, Früünd (“friend”), West Frisian freon, froen, freondinne (“friend”), Dutch vriend (“friend”), Low German Frund, Fründ (“friend, relative”), Luxembourgish Frënd (“friend”), German Freund (“friend”), Danish frænde (“kinsman”), Swedish frände (“kinsman, relative”), Icelandic frændi (“kinsman”), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳𐍃 (frijōnds, “friend”). More at free. Other cognates include Russian приятель (prijatelʹ, “friend”) and Sanskrit प्रिय (priyá-, “beloved”).

noun

1. A person, typically someone other than a family member, spouse or lover, whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection.
   The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one. 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Friendship”, in Essays, volume I
   ...if you consider any man a friend whom you do not trust as you trust yourself, you are mightily mistaken and you do not sufficiently understand what true friendship means. 1917, Richard M. Gummere translating Seneca as Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales, Loeb Classical Library, Vol. I, No. 3
   ...he who looks upon a true friend, looks, as it were, upon a sort of image of himself. Wherefore friends, though absent, are at hand; though in need, yet abound; though weak, are strong; and—harder saying still—though dead, are yet alive; so great is the esteem on the part of their friends, the tender recollection and the deep longing that still attends them. 1923, William Armistead Falconer translating Cicero as De Amicitia, Loeb Classical Library, Vol. XX, p. 34
   ...you are my devoted friend too. You do more and work harder and oh shit I'd get maudlin about how damned swell you are. My god I'd like to see you... You're a hell of a good guy. 1927 Mar. 31, Ernest Hemingway, letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald
   Definition of a friend: One who walks in—when the rest of the world walks out. 1933 Dec. 12, Walter Winchell, "On Broadway", Scranton Republican, p. 5
   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.
   We became friends in the war and remain friends to this day. We were friends with some girls from the other school and stayed friends with them.
2. An associate who provides assistance.
   The Automobile Association is every motorist's friend. The police is every law-abiding citizen's friend.
3. A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted.
   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. 2013-06-21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27
   a friend of a friend; I added him as a friend on Facebook, but I hardly know him.
4. A person who backs or supports something.
   I’m not a friend of cheap wine.
5. (informal) An object or idea that can be used for good.
   Fruit is your friend.
6. (colloquial, ironic, used only in the vocative) Used as a form of address when warning someone.
   You’d better watch it, friend.
7. (object-oriented programming) A function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of another class.
   But don't take the following sections as an endorsement of friends. Top C++ programmers avoid using friends unless absolutely necessary. 1991, Tom Swan, Learning C++
   In that case, the function needn't (and shouldn't) be a friend. 2001, Stephen Prata, C++ primer plus
   To make a function be a friend to a class, the reserved word friend precedes the function prototype[…] 2008, D S Malik, C++ Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
8. (climbing) A spring-loaded camming device.
   Since they were introduced in the 1970s, friends have revolutionized climbing, making protection possible in previously impossible places […] 1995, Rock Climbing Basics
9. (euphemistic) A lover; a boyfriend or girlfriend.
   Time has been, when a gentleman wanted a friend, I could supply him with choice in an hour; but the market is spoiled, and a body might as soon produce a hare or a partridge […] 1813, Samuel Foote, The Commissary, Etc., page 17
   I met your friend. She's very nice, what can I say? 1975, Janis Ian, In the Winter
10. (Scotland, obsolete) A relative, a relation by blood or marriage.
    Friends agree best at a distance.
    Make friends of framet folk.
    He was not a drop's blood to me, though him and my wife were far-out friends. 1895, Crockett, Bog-Myrtle, 232
11. (in the plural, usually preceded by "and") Used to refer collectively to a group of associated individuals, especially those comprising a cast, company, or crew
    Meanwhile on The View, Whoopi Goldberg and friends continue to issue forced apologies for their assumptive comments regarding non-profit organisation Turning Point USA...

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To act as a friend to, to befriend; to be friendly to, to help.
   Lo sluggish Knight the victors happie pray: / So fortune friends the bold …. 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.ii
   ’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. 1896, Alfred Edward Housman, A Shropshire Lad, section LXII
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, 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.
   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. 2006, Kevin Farnham, Dale G. Farnham, Myspace Safety: 51 Tips for Teens And Parents, How-To Primers, page 69