friend \friend\ fre^nd, n. or. frend, freond, as.
   fre'ond, prop. p. pr. of fre'on, fre'ogan, to love;
   akin to d. vriend friend, os. friund friend, friohan to love,
   ohg. friunt friend, g. freund, icel. fraendi kinsman, sw.
   fraumnde. goth. frij=onds friend, frij=on to love.
   root83. see free, and cf. fiend.
   1. one who entertains for another such sentiments of esteem,
      respect, and affection that he seeks his society and
      welfare; a wellwisher; an intimate associate; sometimes,
      an attendant.
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            want gives to know the flatterer from the friend.
                                                  --dryden.
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            a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
                                                  --prov. xviii.
                                                  24.
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   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.
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            friend, how camest thou in hither?    --matt. xxii.
                                                  12.
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   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.
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   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.
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            america was first visited by friends in 1656. --t.
                                                  chase.
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   5. a paramour of either sex. obs. --shak.
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   a friend at court or a friend 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 caesar." --shak.

   to make friends with, to become reconciled to or on
      friendly terms with. "having now made friends with the
      athenians." --jowett thucyd..
      1913 webster
see also:
free fiend a friend at court a friend in court to be friends with to make friends with