backfriend

English

WOTD – 10 January 2024

Etymology

Fromback(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.^[1]

Pronunciation

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(Received Pronunciation,General American)IPA^(key):/ˈbækˌfɹɛnd/
Audio(Southern England): (file)
Hyphenation:back‧friend

Noun

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backfriend (pluralbackfriends)(British,dialectal)

(archaic) Afriend whosupports someone; a person whohas someone's back; abacker, asupporter.
- 1599,[Thomas] Nashe,Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London:[…] [Thomas Judson andValentine Simmes] forN[icholas] L[ing] andC[uthbert] B[urby] […],→OCLC,page49:
  They had vvings of goodvvill to fly vvith, but no vvebbes on their feete to ſvvimme vvith, for except the vvaterfoules had mercie vpon them, and ſtood their faithfull confederates andbacke-friends, on their backes to tranſport them, they might returne home like good fooles, and gather ſtravves to build their neſts, or fal to theyr old trade of picking vvormes.
- 1707,Michael Bruce, “Sermon II. OnPsalm 140. Verses 12, 13.”, inGood News in Evil Times for Fainting Believers, or The Summ of a Lecture uponJeremiah 45 Chapter; […],[S.l]:[s.n.], published1708,→OCLC,pages63–64:
  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 ourBack-friend, he vvill ay maintain our Cauſe;[…]
- 1823, [Walter Scott], “The Bohemians”, inQuentin Durward. […], volume I, Edinburgh:[…] [James Ballantyne and Co.] forArchibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co.,→OCLC,page123:
  I would always have been able to keep up my spirits with the reflection, that I had, in case of the worst, a stoutback-friend in this uncle of mine. But now I have seen him, and, woe worth him, there has been more help in a mere mechanical stranger than I have found in my own mother's brother, my countryman and a cavalier.
- 1980,David Carkeet, chapter 4, inDouble Negative […], New York, N.Y.:Dial Press,→ISBN,page65:
  [“H]e said to me, ‘Adelle, I’m going out. I’ve got abackfriend to meet.’” / “A ‘backfriend’?” / “Yes. Evidently he had a late-night appointment with someone at Wabash. That was the way he liked to do it.”
Synonym ofhangnail(“aloose,narrow strip ofnail tissue protruding from theside edge andanchored near thebase of afingernail ortoenail”)
- 1866,E[liza] Lynn Linton, “Margaret and Ainslie”, inLizzie Lorton of Greyrigg. […], New York, N.Y.:Harper & Brothers, […],→OCLC,page121, column 2:
  […] Corrie bit another atom from off the corner of his nail. He had a troublesome "back-friend" or "agnail," at which he often bit.
(obsolete) A person whopretends to be someone's friend; afalse friend, asecretenemy.
Hypernyms:nonfriend,unfriend
- c.1594 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene ii],page94, column 1:
  A Feind, a Fairie, pittileſſe and ruffe: / A VVolfe, nay vvorſe, a fellovv all in buffe: / Aback friend, a ſhoulder-clapper, one that countermãds / The paſſages of allies, creekes, and narrovv lands:[…]
- 1611, Iohn Speed [i.e.,John Speed], “Henrie the Fifth, […]”, inThe History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London:[…] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […],→OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 26,page628, column 1:
  […]VVeſtmorland thought it ſafeſt to checke theScots, as the neerer and continuallbacke-friends.
- 1666 December 5 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar); first published1692,Robert South, “A Sermon Preach’d at Lambeth-Chapel on the 25th of November, 1666. [Julian calendar] upon the Consecration of the Right Reverend Father in God Dr.John Dolben, Lord Bishop of Rochester”, inTwelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. […], volume I, London:[…] J[ohn] H[eptinstall] for Thomas Bennet, […],→OCLC,page206:
  And ſo far is our Church from encroaching upon the Civil Povver, as ſome, vvho areBack-Friends to both, vvould maliciouſly inſinuate; that vvere it ſtripped of the very Remainder of its Privileges, and made as like the Primitive Church for its Bareneſs, as it is already for its Purity, it couldchearfully, and vvhat is more,loyally, vvant all ſuch Privileges;[…]
- 1692,Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables ofÆsop, &c.] Fab[le] XI. A City Mouse and a Country Mouse [Reflexion].”, inFables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London:[…] R[ichard] Sare, […],→OCLC,pages11–12:
  Let a man but ſet[…] The Reſtleſs Importunities of Tale-bearers andBack Friends, againſt Fair VVords and Profeſſions only from the Teeth outvvard: Let him, I ſay, but ſet the One in Ballance againſt the Other, and he ſhall find himſelf Miſerable, even in the very Glutt of his Delights.
- 1822 May 29, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, inThe Fortunes of Nigel. […], volume II, Edinburgh:[…] [James Ballantyne and Co.] forArchibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co.,→OCLC,pages88–89:
  It is even as I suspected, my lord,[…] Ye haveback-friends, my lord, that is, unfriends—or, to be plain, enemies—about the person of the Prince.
- 1827 November 22,Robert Southey, “Chapter XXXI. [Letter toHenry Taylor, Esq.]”, in Charles Cuthbert Southey, editor,The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey. […], volume V, London:[…] [Spottiswoodes and Shaw] forLongman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], published1850,→OCLC,page321:
  It would have been well for me, if I had always had friends as able and as willing to stand forward in my defence as you are. But I have hadback[-]friends instead, as well as enemies.