bedfellow

[ bed-fel-oh ]

/ ˈbɛdˌfɛl oʊ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bedfellow ON THESAURUS.COM

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.

Nearby words

bedel, bedesman, bedevil, bedew, bedfast, bedfellow, bedford, bedford cord, bedford heights, bedfordshire, bedframe

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

Examples from the Web for bedfellow

The fox agreed to this, but when Ch awoke in the morning his bedfellow had already disappeared.
Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Volumes I and II)|Songling Pu
At length the elder brother wearied of this diversion and aroused his bedfellow.
Manasseh|Maurus Jokai
Her conscience pricked her, and a prickly conscience is just as unhappy a bedfellow as a porcupine would be.
Nan Sherwood at Lakeview Hall|Annie Roe Carr
Why do they hardly feel that they have prayed if company, or a bedfellow, on a journey, keeps them from using oral prayer?
Bertha and Her Baptism|Nehemiah Adams

This command was also obeyed, although, as may be readily supposed, she did not much relish such a bedfellow.
Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales|David Goodger (goodger@python.org)

British Dictionary definitions for bedfellow

bedfellow

/ (ˈbɛdˌfɛləʊ) /

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

bedfellow

noun

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of bedfellow

Examples from the Web for bedfellow

British Dictionary definitions for bedfellow

bedfellow

noun