bedfellow

[bed-fel-oh]

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noun

Also called bedmate. a person who shares one's bed.

an associate or collaborator, especially one who forms a temporary alliance for reasons of expediency: Politics makes strange bedfellows.

Origin of bedfellow

First recorded in 1400–50, bedfellow is from the late Middle English word bedfelow. See bed, fellow

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bedfellow

mate, friend, customer, patron, visitor, caller, companion, inmate, client, recipient, tenant, vacationer, roomie, flatmate, bunkmate, lodger, transient, boarder, frequenter, renter

Examples from the Web for bedfellow

Historical Examples of bedfellow

My cousin Jenny Fynnett is here, and desires to be my bedfellow to-night.
Clarissa, Volume 2 (of 9)
Samuel Richardson
We were afraid of awakening her bedfellow, and kept perfect silence.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete
Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
I had exchanged my brother John as a bedfellow for Walter Packard.
The Story of a Cannoneer Under Stonewall Jackson
Edward A. Moore
At length the elder brother wearied of this diversion and aroused his bedfellow.
Manasseh
Maurus Jokai
The next moment his bedfellow was "covered" with two "guns."
Roosevelt in the Bad Lands
H. Hagedorn.

British Dictionary definitions for bedfellow

bedfellow

noun

a person with whom one shares a bed

a temporary ally or associate

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bedfellow

"close friend, roommate," mid-15c., from bed (n.) + fellow (n.). Also (late 15c) "concubine." Earlier in the "close companion" sense was bed-fere (early 14c.). Bedsister "husband's concubine" is recorded in Middle English (c.1300).