Meaning of backfriend | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A friend who supports someone; a person who has someone's back; a backer, a supporter.
   British, archaic, dialectal
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”).
   British, dialectal

Equivalents

Examples

“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 and backe-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.”

“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; […]”

“I would always have⟳ been able to keep⟳ up my spirits with the reflection, that I had, in case of the worst, a stout back-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.”

“[“H]e said to me, ‘Adelle, I’m going out. I’ve got a backfriend 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.””

“[…] Corrie bit another atom from off the corner of his nail. He had a troublesome "back-friend" or "agnail," at which he often bit.”

“A Feind, a Fairie, pittileſſe and ruffe: / A VVolfe, nay vvorſe, a fellovv all in buffe: / A back friend, a ſhoulder-clapper, one that countermãds / The paſſages of allies, creekes, and narrovv lands: […]”

“[…] VVeſtmorland thought it ſafeſt to checke the Scots, as the neerer and continuall backe-friends.”

“And ſo far is our Church from encroaching upon the Civil Povver, as ſome, vvho are Back-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 could chearfully, and vvhat is more, loyally, vvant all ſuch Privileges; […]”

“Let⟳ a man but ſet […] The Reſtleſs Importunities of Tale-bearers and Back 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.”

“It is even as I suspected, my lord, […] Ye have⟳ back-friends, my lord, that is, unfriends—or, to be plain, enemies—about the person of the Prince.”

“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⟳ had back[-]friends instead, as well as enemies.”

CEFR level