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Glite Dictionary
hail-fellow

hail-fellow

1 9.9
A person who is warm and friendly and easy to talk to
  • adjective
  • /heɪlˈfɛloʊ/
  • Archaic
: sociable
  • Known for his friendly demeanor, Jack is a hail-fellow who easily makes friends wherever he goes.
  • hail-fellow-well-met

Even the most grandiose extroverted, hail fellow well met narcissist will isolate.

Examples

  • I, like you, was once considered a hail-fellow-well-met!

    Raising Buchanan (2019)

  • At best, he was a cheerful, if not very bright, hail-fellow-well-met.

    Blog text (16)

  • Balastro usually had the hail-fellow-well-met air so many of his countrymen could don with ease.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Even the most grandiose extroverted, hail fellow well met narcissist will isolate.

    DoctorRamani

  • Even the most grandiose extroverted hail fellow well met narcissist will isolate.

  • Under his hard-drinking, hail-fellow-well-met exterior, he was a remarkably thorough worker and quietly discreet in compiling information.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • He greeted everyone with a warm smile, embodying the true spirit of a hail-fellow.

  • Despite his serious job, he maintains a hail-fellow attitude that helps put others at ease.

Synonyms

comradely
vshail-fellow
1 6.0

Friendly and supportive in a way that shows people working together

is warm and sociable but focuses less on group solidarity
matey
vshail-fellow
  • UK
1 8.2

Friendly in a way that feels like you are close friends

is warmly congenial but not necessarily intimate or pal like
hail-fellow-well-met
vshail-fellow
  • Archaic
1 9.9

Being friendly and cheerful when meeting people, sometimes too familiar

is warmly friendly without seeming overly familiar
nice as pie
vshail-fellow
  • Informal
1 8.0

Very pleasant and friendly to other people

is more hearty and easy going than merely polite and pleasant

Antonyms

aloof
33 6.3

Not friendly and distant, not joining in with other people

reserved
29 3.7

Not willing to show feelings or talk much

How Friendly

overfamiliar
1 7.5
hail-fellow
  • Archaic
1 9.9
warm
321 1.0
genial
11 4.8
friendly
763 1.0

Surface Forms

hail-fellow positive

Morphology

hail-fellow = hail + fellow (semi-transparent) = hail + fellow

The components 'hail' and 'fellow' are recognisable, but the idiomatic sense ('hearty, convivial') derives from the formulaic greeting 'hail-fellow-well-met' and is somewhat idiomatic rather than a fully literal combination.

Etymology

Hail-fellow comes from the old greeting 'hail fellow, well met', where hail means 'greeting' and fellow means 'friend'. So to be hail-fellow is to be openly warm and easy with people, like someone who greets everyone cheerfully.