What is "a friend at court"

Friend \Friend\ (fr[e^]nd), n. [OR. frend, freond, AS. fre['o]nd, prop. p. pr. of fre['o]n, fre['o]gan, to love; akin to D. vriend friend, OS. friund friend, friohan to love, OHG. friunt friend, G. freund, Icel. fr[ae]ndi kinsman, Sw. fr["a]nde. Goth. frij[=o]nds friend, frij[=o]n to love.

1. One who entertains for another such sentiments of esteem, respect, and affection that he seeks his society and welfare; a wellwisher; an intimate associate; sometimes, an attendant.

   Want gives to know the flatterer from the friend.
   --Dryden.

   A friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
   --Prov. xviii. 24.

2. One not inimical or hostile; one not a foe or enemy; also, one of the same nation, party, kin, etc., whose friendly feelings may be assumed. The word is some times used as a term of friendly address.

   Friend, how camest thou in hither?
   --Matt. xxii. 12.

3. One who looks propitiously on a cause, an institution, a project, and the like; a favorer; a promoter; as, a friend to commerce, to poetry, to an institution.

4. One of a religious sect characterized by disuse of outward rites and an ordained ministry, by simplicity of dress and speech, and esp. by opposition to war and a desire to live at peace with all men. They are popularly called Quakers.

   America was first visited by Friends in 1656.
   --T. Chase.

5. A paramour of either sex. [Obs.]
   --Shak.

   A friend at court or A friend in court, one disposed to act as a friend in a place of special opportunity or influence.

   To be friends with, to have friendly relations with. ``He's . . . friends with C[ae]sar.''
   --Shak.

   To make friends with, to become reconciled to or on friendly terms with. ``Having now made friends with the Athenians.''
   --Jowett (Thucyd.).