friend

Less common meanings

6. 6
   verbtransitive

   To add a person to your list of friends on a social networking site.

   Several strangers tried to friend her after the post went viral.

   He friended everyone from his old job within a week.

   UsageA regular verb: friended, friending. The opposite is unfriend.

   Similaradd

   Oppositeunfriend, defriend

   Note

   Kevin and Dale Farnham's Myspace Safety (2006) still treats "friending" as a nickname. Unlike the older "befriend" verb, it names a designation rather than a kindness. In Tommy Orange's There There (2018), most of a narrator's 660 friends are strangers. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • Kevin and Dale Farnham wrote MySpace Safety, published in 2006. oceantwp.qscend.com
   • MySpace Safety describes friending as a nickname for the practice. en.wiktionary.org
   • Befriend predates the social-networking sense of friend. en.wiktionary.org
   • Tommy Orange wrote There There, first published in 2018. catalog.wake.gov
   • A narrator in There There has 660 friends. en.wiktionary.org
   • Most of that narrator's online friends are people he does not know. etheses.bham.ac.uk
7. 7
   lovernouneuphemisticcountable

   A discreet, indirect way of referring to a lover or romantic partner, such as a boyfriend or girlfriend.

   She moved in with her friend after a year of dating.

   His friend stayed over most weekends, and they were clearly in love.

   Similarpartner, lover, companion

   Note

   An old meaning surfacing as a euphemism: Old English frēond literally meant "loving one, lover." Shakespeare already uses it this way. In The Commissary, an 18th-century comedy by Samuel Foote, a go-between complains that the trade has spoiled, though once, when a gentleman "wanted a friend," there was "choice in an hour." Because the everyday companion meaning is the default reading, tone and context must signal the romance, and "I met your friend" can carry a pointed edge. Source

   Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

   • Old English frēond literally meant ‘loving one, lover’. en.wiktionary.org
   • Shakespeare uses friend for a romantic beloved; Berowne does so in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Act 5, scene 2. folger.edu
   • The Commissary is an eighteenth-century comedy by Samuel Foote. en.wiktionary.org
   • The character associated with this trade is a go-between, Mrs. Mechlin. archive.org
   • The play contains the quoted phrases ‘wanted a friend’ and ‘choice in an hour’, in a complaint that the market has spoiled. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   nouncountableplural

   A group of associated individuals considered together, especially the cast, company, band, or crew of a production, usually following a lead name as 'and friends.'

   Like a band name that tacks 'and Friends' onto its leader to cover everyone else on stage.

   The late set was billed simply as the house bandleader and friends, and nobody knew who would actually show up to play.

   Each episode opens with the host and friends gathered around the campfire.

   Note

   It works like et al. or company, letting a named lead stand for a cast, band or crew left unnamed, but it sounds warmer. That warmth is mostly conventional. The phrase marks association rather than affection, and the friends need not be friends at all.

9. 9
   useful thingnouncolloquialcountable

   An object or idea that can be used to one's benefit.

   On a long hike, a sturdy pair of boots is your best friend.

   When you're editing a long report, the search function is your friend.

   UsageUsually is your friend or your best friend: water is your friend.

   Similarally, asset

   Oppositeenemy

10. 10
    nouncolloquialironic

    Used as a form of address when warning or cautioning someone, frequently with an ironic or hostile edge.

    I'd watch your step, friend, if I were you.

    You're in the wrong neighborhood, friend.

    UsageSeparate friend from the rest of the warning with a comma: Watch it, friend.

    Similarpal, buddy, mate

    Note

    This sense is only ever a term of address, and its warmth is ironic: the speaker calls someone friend while making clear they are nothing of the kind. Spoken to a stranger or an opponent, it sounds like a threat rather than a greeting.

11. 11
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To act as a friend to someone; to befriend, help, or be friendly toward them.

    Note

    The old verb, used without the be- of befriend: Spenser's "So fortune friends the bold" (1596) means that fortune favors and helps the bold. It took a direct object and meant to side with or aid someone. Its past form, friended, is spelled exactly like the social-media verb, so in older verse read it as "helped," not as a network request. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The historical verb friend was transitive and meant to befriend or help someone, supporting the interpretation of fortune helping the bold. en.wiktionary.org
    • The quoted wording is Spenser's, from The Faerie Queene, IV.ii. en.wiktionary.org
    • The passage first appeared in 1596, when Books IV–VI were published. en.wikipedia.org
    • Friended is the past form of both senses of friend; its historical meaning supports the gloss helped. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    nounobsoleteScotland

    A relative; a person related by blood or marriage.

    He was not a drop's blood to me, though him and my wife were far-out friends.

    1895, Crockett, Bog-Myrtle

    Make friends of framet folk.

    Note

    Scots once used the word for kin, the very people the modern meaning sets apart. The proverb Friends agree best at a distance is really advice about relatives. S. R. Crockett's Bog-Myrtle and Peat (1895) still has a narrator say his wife and a young minister were "far-out friends," meaning distant relations. The sense is obsolete now, so recognize it in older Scottish writing rather than use it yourself. Source

    Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • In Scotland, friend historically meant a relative by blood or marriage. en.wiktionary.org
    • The proverb Friends agree best at a distance refers to relatives. gutenberg.org
    • S. R. Crockett wrote Bog-Myrtle and Peat. srcrockett.scot
    • Bog-Myrtle and Peat was first published in 1895. srcrockett.scot
    • The narrator, Dominie Grier, describes his wife and the young minister William Campbell as far-out friends, meaning distant relations. gutenberg.org
13. 13
    Quakernouncountable

    A Quaker: a person who belongs to the Christian movement called the Religious Society of Friends. Written with a capital F.

    As a Friend, he would not swear an oath in court and chose to affirm instead.

    The Friends at the meetinghouse waited in silence until one of them rose to speak.

    SimilarQuaker

    Note

    On the page only the capital F separates a Friend from an ordinary friend, and spoken aloud even that disappears: "he is a Friend" sounds exactly like a remark about friendship. When the religious meaning has to be unmistakable, Quaker or "a member of the Society of Friends" says it without that risk. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • Friends and Quakers are names for members of the Religious Society of Friends. quaker.scot
14. 14
    nouncountable

    A person, group, or nation that takes one's side as an ally, not as an enemy or opponent.

    In the fog, the lookout could not tell whether the approaching ship was friend or foe.

    The new trade deal reassured the island nation that it still had a reliable friend across the ocean.

    UsageSet phrase: friend or foe.

    Similarally

    Oppositeenemy, foe, adversary

15. 15
    noun

    In object-oriented programming, a function or class granted access to the private and protected members of another class.
16. 16
    noun

    In rock climbing, a spring-loaded camming device used to anchor into a crack in the rock.