friend

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person you know well and regard with affection and trust

   That dog was my best friend at the university.

2. 2
   noun

   A person, typically someone other than a family member, spouse or lover, whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection.

   "[…]if you have any wish to speak openly to me as a friend, or to ask my opinion of any thing that you may have in contemplation—as a friend, indeed, you may command me.—I will hear whatever you like. I will tell you exactly what I think." "As a friend!"—repeated Mr. Knightley.—"Emma, that I fear is a word—No, I have no wish—[…]”

3. 3
   noun

   An associate who provides assistance; patron, mentor.

   When I was a child of seven years old, my friends, on a holiday, filled my little pocket with halfpence.

4. 4
   noun

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   A person who backs or supports something.

   I’m not a friend of cheap wine.

6. 6
   noun

   An object or idea that can be used for good.

   Fruit is your friend.

7. 7
   noun

   Used as a form of address when warning someone.

   You’d better watch it, friend.

8. 8
   noun

   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.

Etymology

From Middle English freend, frend, frende, freynde, friend, frind, frond, frund, vrend, vryend, from Old English frēond, frīond (“friend”, literally “loving [one], lover”), from Proto-West Germanic *friund, from Proto-Germanic *frijōndz (“friend, loved one”), from Proto-Indo-European *preyH- (“to please; to love”), roughly equivalent to free + -nd. See also Friday. Cognates Cognate with Scots freend (“friend”), Yola friend, vriene (“friend”), North Frisian frinj, frün (“friend”), Saterland Frisian Fjund, Früünd (“friend”), West Frisian freon, freondinne (“friend”), Cimbrian bròint, vròint (“fr…