friend

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—[…]”

The only reward of virtue is virtue; the only way to have a friend is to be one.

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.

The vicious propensities—the want of principle which he was careful to guard from the knowledge of his best friend, could not escape the observation of a young man of nearly the same age with himself, and who had opportunities of seeing him in unguarded moments, which Mr. Darcy could not have.

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.

a friend of a friend

A person who backs or supports something.

I’m not a friend of cheap wine.

An object or idea that can be used for good.

Fruit is your friend.

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 [...].

’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.

To add (a person) to a list of friends on a social networking site; to officially designate (someone) as a friend.

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.

The two distributions which exhibited this property were in response to the statements, “I am careful about who I friend,” and, “If someone friends me, I will friend them.” (Figure 3).

A Quaker; a member of the Society of Friends. (See also Friends.)

Brand name of a spring-loaded camming device, now used to refer to any such device, often uncapitalized, as friend.