familiar: adj. (‘intimate,’ ‘friendly’ is the most common meaning)
1.
belonging to the household or family, domestic,
household
Wiv. I. i. 21
“a beast to
man,”
Oth. II. iii. 315
“good wine is a good
familiar creature.”
2.
well-known
H5 I. i. 47
“ as his
garter,”
III. vii. 40,
Cym. V. v. 94
“His favour is familiar
to me.”
3.
current, habitual,
ordinary, (hence) trivial Wiv. I. iii.
49, Meas. I. iv. 31,
H5 IV. iii. 52
“our names, in his mouth as household
words,”
Cæs. III. i. 266
“dreadful objects [shall
be] so familiar.”
4.
plain, easily
understood
LLL. I. ii. 9
“a familiar
demonstration,”
Troil. III. iii. 113.
5.
“
spirit,” a demon supposed to be in
association with or under the power of a man, and to
attend at his call
1H6 V. iii. 10
“Now, ye spirits,”
Sonn. lxxxvi. 9.
sb..
intimate friend
LLL. V. i. 104; familiar
or attendant spirit LLL. I. ii.
180, 1H6 III. ii. 122,
2H6 IV. vii. 113
“he has a under his
tongue.”
