Language: en
Meaning: (idiomatic)One who isfriendly,helpful, oravailableonly when it isadvantageousorconvenientto be so.[from early 18th c.]Coordinate term:all-weather friend1730October 1,[Alexander] Pope, “Letters of Mr. Pope to Mr.Gay. From 1712. to 1730.”, inLetters of Mr. Pope, and Several Eminent Persons. From the Year 1705. to 1735. N.B. This Edition Contains More Letters, and More Correctly Printed, than Any Other Extant, London: Printed, and sold by the booksellers of London and Westminster, published1735,→OCLC,page255:MyFair-weather Friendsof the Summer are going away forLondon, and I ſhall ſee them and the butterflies together, if I live till next Year; which I would not deſire to do, if it were only for their ſakes.1819December 23,[Ralph] Bernal, “[House of Commons] Blasphemous Libel Bill”, inT[homas] C[urson] Hansard, editor,The Parliamentary Debates from the Year 1803 to the Present Time: Forming a Continuation of the Work Entitled “The Parliamentary History of England from the Earliest Period to the Year 1803.”, volume XLI (Comprising the Period from the Twenty-third Day of November, 1819, to the Twenty-eight Day of February, 1820), London: Printed by T. C. Hansard, Peterborough-Court,Fleet-Street; for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy[et al.], published1820,→OCLC,column 1524:[T]he liberty of the press was not to be looked upon as fit only for seasons of calmness, as afair-weather friendto be discarded in a storm.1839,[Lucius M. Sargent],Right Opposite. Founded on Fact(The Temperance Tales; II, number 6), Boston, Mass.: Published by Whipple and Damrell, No. 9Cornhill; New York, N.Y.: Scofield and Voorhies, No. 118Nassau Street,→OCLC,page14:Ere long a portion of the village spire began to appear among the trees, and the gilded telltale on its top, in which the slippery politician, and thefair weather friend, and the doubting disciple, who is blown about by every wind of doctrine, may behold a happy emblem of life and practice.1844,T[imothy] S[hay] Arthur, chapter VI, inCecilia Howard: Or, The Young Lady who had Finished Her Education, New York, N.Y.: John Allen, 139Nassau Street,→OCLC,page49:She did not even attempt to make a reply, or to ask herfairweather friendto remain; but suffered her to leave the room and the house without a word.1852, C. Toler Wolfe, “Nothing Like Travel”, inA Book of Odds and Ends, Winchester, Va.: Printed by C. Toler Wolfe, Republican Office,→OCLC,page34:Be not pestered with too manyfriends.[…]There are as many grades of friends as there are plaids in the tartan. There is the friend of "ifs,buts, andands," who always signifies that he would if he could, but as he can't, how can he? Then comes yourfair weatherfriend, who deserts you the very first time you founder in themud!1871,Louisa M[ay] Alcott, “Damon and Pythias”, inLittle Men:[…], Boston, Mass.:Roberts Brothers,→OCLC,page238:She put little nosegays from her garden on his desk, and tried in every way to show thatshewas not afair-weather friend, but faithful through evil as well as good repute.1982April 5, “Italy: New Image, New Influence”, inTime[1], archived fromthe originalon16 April 2016:[Sandro] Pertiniis being embraced as the leader of a staunch and increasingly important ally—a country that, as[Ronald] Reaganput it, "is nofair-weather friendbut instead is an indispensable partner."2015, Andrew Humphries, Richard Gibbs, “Operational Implications of Culture”, inEnterprise Relationship Management: A Paradigm for Alliance Success, Farnham, Surrey; Burlington, Vt.:Gower Publishing,→ISBN,page63:One respondent to a Gibbs and Humphries's research initiative characterised their senior management as ‘fair weather friends’ – keen to support the partnering initiative on day one and when things are going well, but eager to distance themselves when times got tough.
Validation Count: 0
Sourced from Wiktionary