Bedfellow
noun ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 One with whom one shares a bed.
"Yong budding Virgin, faire, and freſh,& ſweet, / Whether away, or whether is thy aboade? / Happy the Parents of ſo faire a childe; / Happier the man whom fauourable ſtars / A lots thee for his louely bedfellow."
- 2 a person with whom you share a bed wordnet
- 3 An associate, often an otherwise improbable one. broadly
"They say that "misfortune makes men acquainted with strange bedfellows". The old hereditary Whig Cabinet ministers must, no doubt, by this time have learned to feel themselves at home with strange neighbours at their elbows."
- 4 a temporary associate wordnet
Example
More examples"Yong budding Virgin, faire, and freſh,& ſweet, / Whether away, or whether is thy aboade? / Happy the Parents of ſo faire a childe; / Happier the man whom fauourable ſtars / A lots thee for his louely bedfellow."
Etymology
From Middle English bedfelawe, equivalent to bed + fellow.
Related phrases
More for "bedfellow"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.