my dearest foe
Preserved but no longer current.
As "my dearest friend" is one with whom I am on the greatest terms of friendship, so "my dearest foe" is one with whom I am on the greatest terms of enmity. Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven, Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio.
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 “my dearest foe” mean?
As "my dearest friend" is one with whom I am on the greatest terms of friendship, so "my dearest foe" is one with whom I am on the greatest terms of enmity. Would I had met my dearest foe in heaven, Or ever I had seen that day, Horatio.
Is “my dearest foe” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.