hail fellow well met
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
One on easy, familiar terms; an intimate acquaintance. Hail fellow well met, all dirty and wet; Find out, if you can, who's master, who's man. SWIFT: My Lady's Lamentation.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “hail fellow well met” mean?
One on easy, familiar terms; an intimate acquaintance. Hail fellow well met, all dirty and wet; Find out, if you can, who's master, who's man. SWIFT: My Lady's Lamentation.
Is “hail fellow well met” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.