befriend, v.
(bɪˈfrɛnd)
[f. be- 2 + friend v.]
1. trans. To act as a friend to, to help, favour; to assist, promote, further.
| 1559 Mirr. Mag. 613 (R.), That..you may befriend My wretched soule with quicke dispatch in death. 1607 Shakes. Timon iii. ii. 64 Will you befriend mee so farre as to vse mine owne words to him? 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 474 Be thou the first true merit to befriend. 1752 Young Brothers ii. i, Wait an occasion that befriends your wishes. 1867 Bright Amer., Sp. 29 June 147 Persons..who befriended the negro in his bondage. |
2. spec. of a Samaritan (sense c): to (set out to) give the companionship and support of a friend to (a client), esp. in a lay capacity; also absol. and transf. in other areas of social work.
| 1962 [implied at befriending vbl. n.]. 1965 E. C. Varah Samaritans 34 Continuation Classes are able to go much more deeply into the big question of how to befriend. 1978 [see Samaritan n. c]. 1983 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 Nov. 1436/2 Samaritan volunteers are..supremely ordinary people... Our only aim is to befriend and support the suicidal or despairing people who contact us. |
Hence befriender, befriending vbl. n. and ppl. a.; befriendment; also befrienˈdee,
| 1681 C. Cotton Poet. Wks. (1765) 321 At the very first befriending Knock. 1856 Longfellow Childr. Lord's Supper 226 Hope, the befriending, does what she can. 1856 E. A. Bond Russia 16th C. 108 As the befriender of her subjects. 1962 Lancet 24 Nov. 1103/1 Some 60%..will go forward to the next stage of observation duty..under the charge of a senior Samaritan, answering the telephone, doing simple befriending perhaps, and car duties. 1965 E. C. Varah Samaritans 24 From that moment (early in 1954) the original concept of a non-medical (but still professional) counselling service was abandoned, and its place was taken by the concept of a befriending service by lay volunteers. Ibid. 25, I could not have done what that befriender did. 1977 Gay News 24 Mar. 18/4 A marriage..cannot be re-routed by one evening's conversation with a befriender. 1977 New Yorker 8 Aug. 12/3 A befriending doctor tells Stroszek that he doesn't know how to look after himself. 1978 Intercom Mar. 2/3 Potential befrienders often go along to a club or day centre as part of their preparation and sometimes meet potential ‘befriendees’ there. 1983 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 Nov. 1436/2 Helping our callers to seek necessary medical advice is..a regular part of Samaritan befriending. |