friend in court

Idioms

Also, friends in high places. A person or persons who can help by virtue of their important position. For example, With a friend in court, he has a good chance of getting the contract, or Jim thinks he can get out of paying the fine; he has friends in high places. This expression alludes to the power of a person at the royal court. With the decline of monarchies, high places came into more common use. [c. 1400]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The unions may have a friend in court.

From Time Magazine Archive

For one thing, he won for his cause a powerful friend in court: the Justice Department.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was bloody safe he wasn't run in himself under the act that time as a rogue and vagabond only he had a friend in court.

From Ulysses by Joyce, James

Yes, it would be worth something to know that they had a friend in court when that time rolled around.

From The Boy Scouts in the Blue Ridge Marooned Among the Moonshiners by Carter, Herbert

Thereupon Chunder, perceiving that he had lost his friend in court, magnanimously said: "I cannot fight an antagonist who is unprovided with a seconder, and will wait until Mr Bodgers is recuperated."

From A Bayard From Bengal Being some account of the Magnificent and Spanking Career of Chunder Bindabun Bhosh,... by Jabberjee, Hurry Bungsho

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023