"backfriend" meaning in English

See backfriend in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈbækˌfɹɛnd/ [General-American, Received-Pronunciation] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-backfriend.wav [Southern-England] Forms: backfriends [plural]
Etymology: From back (adverb or noun) + friend. Sense 3 (“person who pretends to be someone’s friend”) may allude to a person who stays back instead of coming forward to help, and so is not a true friend. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|back|friend|notext=1|pos1=adverb or noun|type=endocentric}} back (adverb or noun) + friend, {{langname|en}} English, {{senseno|en|false friend|uc=1}} Sense 3 Head templates: {{en-noun}} backfriend (plural backfriends)
  1. (archaic) A friend who supports someone; a person who has someone's back; a backer, a supporter. Tags: Britain, archaic, dialectal Categories (topical): People
    Sense id: en-backfriend-en-noun-C3-n5E0T Disambiguation of People: 41 12 47 Categories (other): Pages linking to anchors not found in Appendix:Glossary
  2. Synonym of hangnail (“a loose, narrow strip of nail tissue protruding from the side edge and anchored near the base of a fingernail or toenail”) Tags: Britain, dialectal Categories (topical): People Synonyms: hangnail [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-backfriend-en-noun-8uSiq7yo Disambiguation of People: 41 12 47
  3. (obsolete) A person who pretends to be someone's friend; a false friend, a secret enemy. Tags: Britain, dialectal, obsolete Categories (topical): People Translations (person who pretends to be someone’s friend): petollinen ystävä (Finnish)
    Sense id: en-backfriend-en-noun-en:false_friend Disambiguation of People: 41 12 47 Disambiguation of 'person who pretends to be someone’s friend': 24 1 75
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: back-friend Related terms: a friend in need is a friend indeed, all-weather friend, fair-weather friend, frenemy

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for backfriend meaning in English (5.4kB)

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          "ref": "1707, Michael Bruce, “Sermon II. On Psalm 140. Verses 12, 13.”, in Good News in Evil Times for Fainting Believers, or The Summ of a Lecture upon Jeremiah 45 Chapter; […], [S.l]: [s.n.], published 1708, →OCLC, pages 63–64",
          "text": "Tho they give us neither VVine nor Ale; yet if they give us a Cup of cold VVater in the time of need, in the name of Diſciple, in the name of Miniſters, they ſhall not loſe their Revvard. Novv, vvell's us for our Back-friend, he vvill ay maintain our Cauſe; […]",
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          "ref": "1866, E[liza] Lynn Linton, “Margaret and Ainslie”, in Lizzie Lorton of Greyrigg. […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 121, column 2",
          "text": "[…] Corrie bit another atom from off the corner of his nail. He had a troublesome \"back-friend\" or \"agnail,\" at which he often bit.",
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        {
          "_dis1": "24 1 75",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "person who pretends to be someone’s friend",
          "word": "petollinen ystävä"
        }
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      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-backfriend.wav",
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      "word": "all-weather friend"
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      "word": "fair-weather friend"
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        "Pages linking to anchors not found in Appendix:Glossary"
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          "ref": "1707, Michael Bruce, “Sermon II. On Psalm 140. Verses 12, 13.”, in Good News in Evil Times for Fainting Believers, or The Summ of a Lecture upon Jeremiah 45 Chapter; […], [S.l]: [s.n.], published 1708, →OCLC, pages 63–64",
          "text": "Tho they give us neither VVine nor Ale; yet if they give us a Cup of cold VVater in the time of need, in the name of Diſciple, in the name of Miniſters, they ſhall not loſe their Revvard. Novv, vvell's us for our Back-friend, he vvill ay maintain our Cauſe; […]",
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        "(archaic) A friend who supports someone; a person who has someone's back; a backer, a supporter."
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        [
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        ],
        [
          "edge",
          "edge#Noun"
        ],
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          "anchored",
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        ],
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          "base",
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        "A person who pretends to be someone's friend; a false friend, a secret enemy."
      ],
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      "word": "back-friend"
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      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "person who pretends to be someone’s friend",
      "word": "petollinen ystävä"
    }
  ],
  "word": "backfriend"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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