backfriend

== English == === 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. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /ˈbækˌfɹɛnd/ Hyphenation: back‧friend === Noun === backfriend (plural backfriends) (British, dialectal) (archaic) A friend who supports someone; a person who has someone's back; a backer, a supporter. 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”). (obsolete) A person who pretends to be someone's friend; a false friend, a secret enemy. Hypernyms: nonfriend, unfriend ==== Alternative forms ==== back-friend ==== Related terms ==== a friend in need is a friend indeed all-weather friend fair-weather friend frenemy ==== Translations ==== === References === === Further reading === Joseph Wright, editor (1898), “BACKFRIEND, sb.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume I (A–C), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 115, column 1.