Dictionary

bedfellow en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˈbɛdˌfɛloʊ/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Middle English bedfelawe, equivalent to bed + fellow. Sense 2 "associate, especially improbable" is influenced by strange bedfellow and its allusion to Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Meanings

1. One with whom one shares a bed.
   • Car[azie]. / In the day I waite on my Lady when ſhe eates, / Carry her pantophles, beare vp her trayne / Sing her aſleepe at night, and when ſhe pleaſes / I am her bedfellow. / Gaz[et]. / How? her bedfellow, / And lye with her? / Car[azie]. / Yes, and lye with her. 1630, Philip Massinger, The Renegado, a Tragæ Comedie. As It Hath Beene Often Acted by the Queenes Maiesties Seruants, at the Priuate Play-house in Drurye-Lane., London: […] A[ugustine] M[athewes] for Iohn Waterson, […], act III, scene IV:
   • 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. c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], page 226:
   • Therefore, grave mistresses of fate, I pray / That I may never live to see the day / When Zeus takes me for his bedfellow; 1922, “Prometheus Bound”, in Geoffrey Montagu Cookson, transl., Four Plays of Aeschylus, page 203:
2. (broadly) An associate, often an otherwise improbable one.
   • Statistics and truth can be uneasy bedfellows when it comes to football, but one fact could not be ignored: neither side has a player with more than seven goals to his name. 2011 February 12, Les Roopanarine, “Birmingham 1 - 0 Stoke”, in BBC:
   • 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. 1873, Anthony Trollope, chapter 40, in Phineas Redux:
   • Certain aspects of reprint publishing are more akin to university press publishing than to any other sector of the publishing industry, but the relationships between the two frequently create unwilling bedfellows. 1972, Carol A. Nemeyer, Scholarly Reprint Publishing in the United States, New York, N.Y.: R. R. Bowker Co., →ISBN, page 8:

Forms

Deriveds

strange bedfellow · bedfellowship

Relateds

bedshare

Synonyms

bedpartner · bedmate

Translations (20)

fi petikaveri (an associate, often an otherwise improbable one) · bg друга́рче по легло́ (one with whom one shares a bed) · fi vuodetoveri (an associate, often an otherwise improbable one) · nl bedgenoot (one with whom one shares a bed) · sco neibour (one with whom one shares a bed) · gv colhiabbagh (one with whom one shares a bed) · bg друга́р по легло́ (one with whom one shares a bed) · ang ġebedda (one with whom one shares a bed) · fi petikaveri (one with whom one shares a bed) · ang healsġebedda (one with whom one shares a bed) · grc ἄκοιτις (one with whom one shares a bed) · de Bettgenossin (one with whom one shares a bed) · enm bedfelawe (an associate, often an otherwise improbable one) · fi vuodetoveri (one with whom one shares a bed) · grc εὖνις (one with whom one shares a bed) · sv sängkamrat (one with whom one shares a bed) · de Bettgenosse (one with whom one shares a bed) · enm bedfelawe (one with whom one shares a bed) · fi aisapari (an associate, often an otherwise improbable one) · bg друга́рка по легло́ (one with whom one shares a bed)