confidant (konfidant)

[F. confidant, m., confidante, f., now confident, m., confidente, f.: see confident.] 1. A person intrusted with the confidence of another; one to whom secrets are confided; a confidential friend. Hobby being a confidant of the Protector's. Bp . Burnet , Hist. Reformation, an. 1547. Martin composed his billet-doux, and intrusted it to his confidant. Martin us Scriblerus . He [John Adams] had but one confidant , his wife; but one intimate friend, the mother of his children. Theodore Parker , Historic Americans, vi. confidential To take (a person) into one's confidence, to communicate some private matter or matters to him, or to confide to him affairs of importance. confident (kon'fi-dent), a. and n. [= F. conf i dant, now confident, intimate, confidential (usually as a noun), in older form confiant, confiding, confident, self-confident, = Sp. Pg. con fidente, confiante = It. confidente, to contain relics. Also called altar - cavity. ( b ) A chamber under or near an altar, intended for similar purposes: in this sense often used as equivalent to confe ion, 4. The original Saxon cathedral of Canterbury had a crypt beneath the eastern apse, "fabricated," according to Eadmer, "in the likene of the confe ionary of St. Peter Encyc . Brit ., VI. 667. at Rome."