bedfellow


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bed·fel·low

 (bĕd′fĕl′ō)
n.
1. A bedmate.
2. One that is closely associated or allied with another: "Stupidity here makes an easy bedfellow, as always, with racialism" (Christopher Hitchens).
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bedfellow

(ˈbɛdˌfɛləʊ)
n
1. a person with whom one shares a bed
2. a temporary ally or associate
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bed•fel•low

(ˈbɛdˌfɛl oʊ)

n.
1. a person who shares one's bed.
2. an associate or collaborator, esp. one who forms a temporary alliance for reasons of expediency.
[1400–50]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.bedfellow - a temporary associatebedfellow - a temporary associate; "politics makes strange bedfellows"
associate - a person who joins with others in some activity or endeavor; "he had to consult his associate before continuing"
2.bedfellow - a person with whom you share a bedbedfellow - a person with whom you share a bed  
individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations

bedfellow

[ˈbedfeləʊ] Ncompañero/a m/f de cama
they are or make strange bedfellows (fig) → forman una extraña pareja
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

bedfellow

[ˈbɛdfɛləʊ] n
They are strange bedfellows → Ils forment un drôle de tandem.
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bedfellow

[ˈbɛdˌfɛləʊ] n they are strange bedfellows (fig) → fanno una coppia ben strana
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
This muff, ever since the departure of Mr Jones, had been the constant companion of Sophia by day, and her bedfellow by night; and this muff she had at this very instant upon her arm; whence she took it off with great indignation, and, having writ her name with her pencil upon a piece of paper which she pinned to it, she bribed the maid to convey it into the empty bed of Mr Jones, in which, if he did not find it, she charged her to take some method of conveying it before his eyes in the morning.
And about this harpooneer, whom I have not yet seen, you persist in telling me the most mystifying and exasperating stories, tending to beget in me an uncomfortable feeling towards the man whom you design for my bedfellow --a sort of connexion, landlord, which is an intimate and confidential one in the highest degree.
Yes, it's just as I thought, he's a terrible bedfellow; he's been in a fight, got dreadfully cut, and here he is, just from the surgeon.
I'll have a good look at him then, and perhaps we may become jolly good bedfellows after all --there's no telling.
Yes, now that I think of it, here's his bedfellow! has a stick of whale's jaw-bone for a wife!
At four o'clock, on such a roseate summer's morning as even made Great Gaunt Street look cheerful, the faithful Tinker, having wakened her bedfellow, and bid her prepare for departure, unbarred and unbolted the great hall door (the clanging and clapping whereof startled the sleeping echoes in the street), and taking her way into Oxford Street, summoned a coach from a stand there.
for who do you think would be a king, and not choose a handsome bedfellow?”
But whether he did it with design or not, I know not, but his elder brother took care to make him very much fuddled before he went to bed, so that I had the satisfaction of a drunken bedfellow the first night.
As for the friar, had he known who Robin Hood was, you may well believe he would almost as soon have slept with an adder as with the man he had for a bedfellow.
Miss Cotton stood staring about her, looking so funny, without her cap, that my bedfellow would have gone off in a fit of laughter, if I had not pinched her warningly.
Joe experienced a keen sensation or terror mingled with disgust, as he looked at it, and he leaped precipitately from the tree amid the hissings of these new and unwelcome bedfellows.
The Hills make cold bedfellows. Hai, my' - it was on the tip of his tongue to say Mother, but he turned it to Sister -'thou art a wise and witty woman.