Dictionary

friends in high places en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, plural, plural-only) Friends who have authority or influence and who can ensure that one's interests will be protected or furthered.
   • In recent years he was protected by friends in high places. 1987 November 30, “War Crimes: Long Road To Justice”, in Time, retrieved 18 May 2015:
   • In Petrograd they were in great danger but had many friends in high places, and with money for bribes they avoided arrest. 2006 April 1, Phillip Alder, “On a Day Made for Tricks, Lots of Ways to Get Them All”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 May 2015:
   • "Herr Freudenberg himself has great friends here, friends in high places. He will see that nothing happens." 1913, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 10, in The Mischief Maker:
   • I walk into the corner of my room / See my friends in high places / I don't know which is which or who is whom / They've stolen each other's faces 2008, “More News From Nowhere”, in Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:
   • Being far from the distant throne, we little people need more important people to plead our cause and obtain spiritual and material blessings. We need friends in high places, so to speak. Because she is the Mother of the Lord, Mary is the most powerful intercessor of all, obtaining gifts that might otherwise be denied. 2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America, volume 182, number 21:

Antonyms

friends in low places

Relateds

nepotism · it's not what you know but who you know · ride the coattails · cronyism

Translations (5)

fi vaikutusvaltaiset ystävät (friends who have authority or influence) · hu befolyásos barátok (friends who have authority or influence) · es buenas aldabas (friends who have authority or influence) · pl mocne plecy (friends who have authority or influence) · es tener buenas aldabas (friends who have authority or influence)