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 C[ae]sar.'' --Shak.
{To make friends with}, to become reconciled to or on
friendly terms with. ``Having now made friends with the
Athenians.'' --Jowett (Thucyd.).
Fortune friends the bold. --Spenser.