Backfriend

Quick meaning: Backfriend is a noun meaning 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”).

Meaning

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”).

More Meanings

1. (archaic) A friend who supports someone; a person who has someone's back; a backer, a supporter.
2. (obsolete) A person who pretends to be someone's friend; a false friend, a secret enemy.

Example Sentences

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

[…] 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: […]

[“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.”

Word Forms

• backfriends
• back-friend

Synonyms for backfriend

Depending on context, synonyms include hangnail.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include back-friend, friend, complice, supportress, befriender, ally.

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