companion

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
companion1

▶noun

• 1 a person with whom one spends time or travels.

  ■ a person employed to live with and assist someone old or unwell.

• 2 each of a pair of things intended to complement or match each other.

  ■ Brit. dated a piece of equipment containing several objects used in a particular activity.

• 3 (Companion) a member of the lowest grade of certain orders of knighthood.

▶verb formal accompany.

– derivatives
companionship noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. compaignon, lit. ‘one who breaks bread with another’, based on L. com- ‘together with’ + panis ‘bread’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
companion2

▶noun Nautical

• 1 a covering over the hatchway leading to a companionway.

  ■ archaic a raised frame with windows on the quarterdeck to allow light into the decks below.

• 2 a companionway.

– origin C18: from obs. Du. kompanje (earlier form of kampanje) ‘quarterdeck’.