Mutual Friends

Can two persons be called mutual friends? Does not the word of necessity imply three or more than three? (See the controversy in Notes and Queries, June 9, 1894, p. 451.)

“A mutual flame was quickly caught,

Was quickly, too, revealed;

For neither bosom lodged a thought

Which virtue keeps concealed.”

Edwin and Emma.

(Mutual = reciprocal.)

· ·

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.