friends in high places

English

Pronunciation

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Noun

friends in high places pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic) Friends who have authority or influence and who can ensure that one's interests will be protected or furthered.
   • 1913, E. Phillips Oppenheim, chapter 10, in The Mischief Maker:

     "Herr Freudenberg himself has great friends here, friends in high places. He will see that nothing happens."

   • 1987 November 30, “War Crimes: Long Road To Justice”, in Time‎^[1], retrieved 18 May 2015:

     In recent years he was protected by friends in high places.

   • 2000 June 17, Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet”, in America‎^[2], volume 182, number 21:

     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.

   • 2006 April 1, Phillip Alder, “On a Day Made for Tricks, Lots of Ways to Get Them All”, in New York Times‎^[3], 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.

   • 2008, “More News From Nowhere”, in Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, performed by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds:

     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

Antonyms

• friends in low places

Translations

friends who have authority or influence

• Finnish: vaikutusvaltaiset ystävät (usually in partitive)
• Hungarian: befolyásos barátok
• Polish: mocne plecy m pl
• Spanish: tener buenas aldabas (es), enchufismo (es) m

See also

• it's not what you know but who you know
• ride the coattails

Further reading

• “friends in high places”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.