Adjacent Words

Companion definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

COMPANION, n.
1. One who keeps company with another; one with whom a person frequently associates, and converses. It differs from friend, says Johnson, as acquaintance from confidence. The word does not necessarily imply friendship; but a companion is often or generally a friend.
A companion of fools shall be destroyed. Proverbs 13.
2. One who accompanies another; as two persons meeting casually and traveling together are called companions. So soldiers are called companions in arms.
3. A partner; an associate.
Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier. Philippians 2.
4. A fellow; a mate.
5. A sort of wooden porch placed over the entrance or stair case of the cabin in merchant ships. Hence the ladder by which officers ascend to and descend from the quarter deck is called the companion ladder.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a friend who is frequently in the company of another; "drinking companions"; "comrades in arms" [syn: companion, comrade, fellow, familiar, associate]
2: a traveler who accompanies you [syn: companion, fellow traveler, fellow traveller]
3: one paid to accompany or assist or live with another v
1: be a companion to somebody [syn: company, companion, accompany, keep company]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English compainoun, from Anglo-French cumpaing, cumpaignun, from Late Latin companion-, companio, from Latin com- + panis bread, food — more at food Date: 13th century 1. one that accompanies another ; comrade, associate; also one that keeps company with another 2. obsolete rascal 3. a. one that is closely connected with something similar b. one employed to live with and serve another 4. a celestial body that appears close to another but that may or may not be associated with it in space II. verb Date: 1622 transitive verb accompany intransitive verb to keep company III. noun Etymology: by folk etymology from Dutch kampanje poop deck Date: 1762 1. a hood covering at the top of a companionway 2. companionway

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 a (often foll. by in, of) a person who accompanies, associates with, or shares with, another (a companion in adversity; they were close companions). b a person, esp. an unmarried or widowed woman, employed to live with and assist another. 2 a handbook or reference book on a particular subject (A Companion to North Wales). 3 a thing that matches another (the companion of this book-end is over there). 4 (Companion) a member of the lowest grade of some orders of knighthood (Companion of the Bath). 5 Astron. a star etc. that accompanies another. 6 equipment or a piece of equipment that combines several uses. --v. 1 tr. accompany. 2 intr. literary (often foll. by with) be a companion. Phrases and idioms: companion in arms a fellow-soldier. Companion of Honour (in the UK) a member of an order founded in 1917. Companion of Literature (in the UK) a member of an order founded in 1961. companion-set a set of fireside implements on a stand. Etymology: ME f. OF compaignon ult. f. L panis bread 2. n. Naut. 1 a raised frame on a quarterdeck used for lighting the cabins etc. below. 2 = companion-way. Phrases and idioms: companion-hatch a wooden covering over a companion-way. companion hatchway an opening in a deck leading to a cabin. companion ladder a ladder from a deck to a cabin. companion-way a staircase to a cabin. Etymology: obs. Du. kompanje quarterdeck f. OF compagne f. It. (camera della) compagna pantry, prob. ult. rel. to COMPANION(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Companion Com*pan"ion, n. [F. compagnon, OF. compaing, fr. an assumed LL. companio (cf. companium fellowship, a mess), fr. L. com- + panis bread. See Pantry.] 1. One who accompanies or is in company with another for a longer or shorter period, either from choice or casually; one who is much in the company of, or is associated with, another or others; an associate; a comrade; a consort; a partner. The companions of his fall. --Milton. The companion of fools shall smart for it. --Prov. xiii. 20 (Rev. Ver.). Here are your sons again; and I must lose Two of the sweetest companions in the world. --Shak. A companion is one with whom we share our bread; a messmate. --Trench. 2. A knight of the lowest rank in certain orders; as, a companion of the Bath. 3. A fellow; -- in contempt. [Obs.] --Shak. 4. [Cf. OSp. compa[~n]a an outhouse, office.] (Naut.) (a) A skylight on an upper deck with frames and sashes of various shapes, to admit light to a cabin or lower deck. (b) A wooden hood or penthouse covering the companion way; a companion hatch. Companion hatch (Naut.), a wooden porch over the entrance or staircase of the cabin. Companion ladder (Naut.), the ladder by which officers ascend to, or descend from, the quarter-deck. --Totten. Companion way (Naut.), a staircase leading to the cabin. Knights companions, in certain honorary orders, the members of the lowest grades as distinguished from knights commanders, knights grand cross, and the like. Syn: Associate; comrade; mate; compeer; partner; ally; confederate; coadjutor; accomplice.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Companion Com*pan"ion, v. t. 1. To be a companion to; to attend on; to accompany. [R.] --Ruskin. 2. To qualify as a companion; to make equal. [Obs.] Companion me with my mistress. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(companions) A companion is someone who you spend time with or who you are travelling with. Fred had been her constant companion for the last six years of her life... I asked my travelling companion what he thought of the situation in Algeria. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Comrade, associate, mate, fellow, consort, compeer, boon companion. 2. Partner, partaker, participator, participant, sharer.

Moby Thesaurus

Bayard, Don Quixote, Gawain, Lancelot, Ritter, Sidney, Sir Galahad, abigail, accompanier, accompanist, accompanyist, ace, adjunct, ally, alter ego, amah, amiable, amigo, analogon, analogue, associate, attend, attendant, au pair girl, ayah, bachelor, back, back stairs, balance rudder, banneret, baronet, batten, beak, beakhead, beam, bear, bedfellow, bedmate, betweenmaid, biddy, bilge keelson, bitt, board, bodyguard, bollard, bollard timber, bosom buddy, bow, bracket plate, bridge, bring, brother, brother-in-arms, buddy, bulkhead, bulwarks, bunkie, bunkmate, butty, caballero, cam cleat, camarade, capstan, carling, carry, casemate, cathead, cavalier, ceiling, centerboard, chamberfellow, chambermaid, chaperon, chaperone, chevalier, chum, classmate, cleat, close copy, close match, coadjutor, cognate, cohort, colleague, comate, companion, companion piece, companionable, companionway, company, compatriot, compeer, complacent, complement, comrade, concomitant, conduct, conductor, confederate, confrere, congenator, congener, conning tower, consociate, consort, consort with, convivial, convoy, cook, coordinate, copartner, copy, correlate, correlative, correspondent, counter, counterpart, crony, cutwater, daggerboard, davit, dead ringer, deadwood, double, duenna, duplicate, effigy, enchiridion, entrance, equivalent, escalier, escort, esquire, exact likeness, fantail, fellow, fellow member, fellow student, fellow traveler, femme de chambre, figurehead, fille de chambre, fire escape, flight of steps, forefoot, foresheets, foretop, frame, freeboard, futtock, gangplank, gangway, garboard strake, gentlewoman, girl, girl friend, good-natured, gossip, guard, gudgeon, guide, gunnel, gunwale, handbook, handmaid, handmaiden, hatch, hatchway, hawse, hawse timber, hawsehole, hawsepiece, hawsepipe, head, heel, hired girl, housemaid, icon, idol, image, incline, island, keel, keel and keelson, keelson, kevel, kindred spirit, kitchenmaid, knee, knight, knight bachelor, knight banneret, knight baronet, knight-errant, lady-help, lady-in-waiting, landing, landing stage, larboard, lee, lee side, leeward, like, likeness, live-in maid, live-out maid, living image, living picture, maid, maidservant, maintop, manual, match, mate, messmate, miniature, mirroring, mizzentop, model, near duplicate, nose, nursemaid, obverse, old crony, paddle wheel, pal, parallel, pard, pardner, parlormaid, partner, pendant, perron, photograph, picture, pintle, planking, playfellow, playmate, poop, port, porthole, portrait, portside, post, propeller, prow, pulpit, rail, ramp, reciprocal, reference book, reflection, resemblance, rib, roommate, rubbing, rubrail, rudder, rudderpost, rudderstock, run, running mate, safe-conduct, schoolfellow, schoolmate, scullery maid, scupper, scuttle, scuttlebutt, second self, semblance, servant girl, servitress, shadow, shaft tunnel, sheave hole, sheer strake, sheets, shelf, shelfpiece, shepherd, shipmate, side partner, sidekick, similitude, simulacrum, sister, skeg, snorkel, sociable, soubrette, soul mate, spiral staircase, spit and image, spitting image, squire, staircase, stairs, stairway, stanchion, starboard, stem, stepping-stones, steps, stern, stile, strake, such, suchlike, superstructure, swain, tail end, tally, teammate, the like of, the likes of, tiller, trace, tracing, transom, treads and risers, truck, tweeny, twin, upstairs maid, usher, very image, very picture, waiting maid, waterline, waterway, weather, weather side, weatherboard, wench, wheel, winch, windlass, windward, workfellow, yokefellow, yokemate