hail-fellow-well-met

hail-fellow-well-met

Very friendly, often obnoxiously or disingenuously so. I don't think George is as nice as he seems—he just strikes me as hail-fellow-well-met.

hale-fellow-well-met

Fig. friendly to everyone; falsely friendly to everyone. (Usually said of males.) Yes, he's friendly, sort of hale-fellow-well-met. He's not a very sincere person. Hail-fellow-well-met—you know the type. What a pain he is. Good old Mr. Hail-fellow-well-met. What a phony!

hail-fellow-well-met

showing excessive familiarity.

1979 Steven Levenkron The Best Little Girl in the World Harold was accustomed to hail-fellow-well-met salesmen and deferential secretaries and even irate accountants.

hail fellow well met

On easy, congenial terms; also, superficial friendliness. This expression, which has a quintessentially Victorian ring, actually dates from the sixteenth century. Presumably it began as a greeting, but by 1550 it was being used figuratively and so appeared in Thomas Becon’s New Catechisme (“They would be ‘hail fellow well met’ with him”).

See also: fellow, hail, met, well