# companion

Pronunciation: say "kuhm-PAN-yuhn" /kəmˈpænjən/

## Noun

1. A friend, acquaintance, or partner: someone you spend time with or who goes along with you.
   - Simple: A person you spend time with, such as a friend or someone who travels with you.
   - _He crossed Europe by train with an old companion from his college days._
   - _Her companions on the climb were all experienced mountaineers._
2. A thing or phenomenon closely associated with another thing, event, or person.
   - Simple: A thing or event that often comes along with another thing.
   - _Anxiety can be an unwelcome companion during long periods of uncertainty._
   - _Rising prices are a familiar companion to rapid economic growth._
3. An added source of media or information designed to be used alongside the main material and to enhance it.
   - Simple: A book, guide, or website made to go with a main one and help you use it.
   - _The museum released a digital companion to the exhibition, full of interviews and maps._
   - _Each chapter ships with a companion that explains the harder ideas in plain language._
4. A celestial object, such as a star, that is physically associated with another.
   - Simple: A star or other object in space that is linked to another one.
   - _Sirius has a dim white-dwarf companion that astronomers first saw in 1862._
   - _The large galaxy is slowly pulling in its smaller companion._
5. A member of an order of honor who holds the grade of Companion, the lowest grade in some orders and the highest in others.
   - Simple: A member of an honors order who holds the rank called companion. In some orders it is the top rank.
   - _She was appointed a companion of the order in recognition of her scientific work._
   - _The list of honors named him a companion rather than a full knight._

## Verb

7. To be a companion to someone; to attend on or accompany them. *(literary)*
   - Simple: To go along with someone and keep them company.

## Noun

6. A person employed to accompany another or to travel with them. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A person who is paid to keep someone company or travel with them.
   - _The wealthy spinster engaged a companion to manage her social calls._
   - _For years she worked as a lady's companion in a grand country house._
8. A fellow, especially a low or disreputable one; a rogue. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A man, especially one seen as worthless or dishonest.

## Verb

9. To qualify as a companion; to make equal or rank on the same level. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make someone or something equal to another.

## Other meanings

- (noun) The covering of a hatchway on a ship's upper deck leading down to the cabins, or the flight of steps itself.
- (noun) A framework on a sailing ship's quarterdeck that served to admit daylight to the cabins underneath.
- (noun) In knot theory, a knot in whose surrounding space another specified knot meets every meridian disk.

## Origin

It comes from Middle English companion, from Old French compaignon, from Late Latin compāniō, built from com- + pānis, literally "with bread." This was likely a calque of a Germanic word for "messmate" (probably Frankish *galaibo), and it displaced the native Old English ġefēra, "fellow traveler."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/companion (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).