Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Company

Com′pa-ny

(kŭm′pȧ-ny̆)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Companies
(kŭm′pȧ-nĭz)
.
[F.
compagnie
, fr. OF.
compaing
. See
Companion
.]
1.
The state of being a companion or companions; the act of accompanying; fellowship; companionship; society; friendly intercourse.
Shak.
Evil
company
doth corrupt good manners.
1 Cor. xv. 33. (Rev. Ver.).
Brethren, farewell: your
company
along
I will not wish.
Milton.
2.
A companion or companions.
To thee and thy
company
I bid
A hearty welcome.
Shakespeare
3.
An assemblage or association of persons, either permanent or transient.
Thou shalt meet a
company
of prophets.
1 Sam. x. 5.
4.
Guests or visitors, in distinction from the members of a family;
as, to invite
company
to dine
.
5.
Society, in general; people assembled for social intercourse.
Nature has left every man a capacity of being agreeable, though not of shining in
company
.
Swift.
6.
An association of persons for the purpose of carrying on some enterprise or business; a corporation; a firm;
as, the East India
Company
; an insurance
company
; a joint-stock
company
.
7.
Partners in a firm whose names are not mentioned in its style or title; – often abbreviated in writing;
as, Hottinguer &
Co
.
8.
(Mil.)
A subdivision of a regiment of troops under the command of a captain, numbering in the United States (full strength) 100 men.
9.
(Naut.)
The crew of a ship, including the officers;
as, a whole ship’s
company
.
10.
The body of actors employed in a theater or in the production of a play.
Syn. – Assemblage; assembly; society; group; circle; crowd; troop; crew; gang; corporation; association; fraternity; guild; partnership; copartnery; union; club; party; gathering.

Com′pa-ny

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Companied
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Companying
.]
To accompany or go with; to be companion to.
[Obs.]

Com′pa-ny

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To associate.
Men which have
companied
with us all the time.
Acts i. 21.
2.
To be a gay companion.
[Obs.]
Spenser.
3.
To have sexual commerce.
[Obs.]
Bp. Hall.

Webster 1828 Edition


Company

COMPANY

,
Noun.
1.
In military affairs, the soldiers united under the command of a captain; a subdivision of a regiment, consisting usually of a number from 60 to 100 men. But the number is indefinite.
2.
Any assemblage of persons; a collection of men, or other animals, in a very indefinite sense. It may be applied to a small number, or any multitude whatever; as in scripture we read of a company of priests, a company of prophets, and an innumerable company of angels; also, a company of horses.
3.
An assemblage of persons for entertainment or festivity; a party collected by invitation or otherwise.
4.
Persons that associate with others for conversation or pleasure; society; as, let your children keep good company.
5.
The state of being a companion; the act of accompanying; fellowship; society.
I will keep thee company.
We cannot enjoy the company of licentious men.
6.
A number of persons untied for the same purpose, or in a joint concern; as a company of merchants or mechanics; a company of players. The word is applicable to private partnerships or to incorporated bodies of men. Hence it may signify a firm, house or partnership; or a corporation, as the East India Company, a banking or insurance company.
7.
The crew of a ship, including the officers; also, a fleet.
To bear company, to accompany; to attend; to go with; denoting a temporary association.
His faithful dog shall bear him company.
To keep company, to accompany; to attend; also, to associate with frequently or habitually; hence, to frequent public houses. Prov. 29.

COMPANY

,
Verb.
T.
To accompany; to attend; to go with; to be companion to.

COMPANY

, v.i.
1.
To associate with; to frequent the company of.
I wrote you not to company with fornicators. 1 Cor. 5.
2.
To be a gay companion.
3.
To have commerce with the other sex.

Definition 2024


company

company

English

Noun

company (countable and uncountable, plural companies)

  1. A team; a group of people who work together professionally.
    1. A group of individuals who work together for a common purpose.
      A company of actors.
    2. (military) A unit of approximately sixty to one hundred and twenty soldiers, typically consisting of two or three platoons and forming part of a battalion.
      the boys in Company C
      • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 30, in The Dust of Conflict:
        It was by his order the shattered leading company flung itself into the houses when the Sin Verguenza were met by an enfilading volley as they reeled into the calle.
    3. A unit of firefighters and their equipment.
      It took six companies to put out the fire.
    4. (nautical) The entire crew of a ship.
    5. (espionage) Nickname for an intelligence service.
      As he had worked for the CIA for over 30 years, he would soon take retirement from the company.
  2. (law) An entity having legal personality, and thus able to own property and to sue and be sued in its own name; a corporation.
    • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
      [] That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh. [] If she had her way, she’d ruin the company inside a year with her hare-brained schemes; love of the people, and that sort of guff.”
  3. (business) Any business, whether incorporated or not, that manufactures or sells products (also known as goods), or provides services as a commercial venture.
    • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19:
      In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. [] The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.
    • 2013 June 8, “Obama goes troll-hunting”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 55:
      According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often, their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.
  4. (uncountable) Social visitors or companions.
    Keep the house clean; I have company coming.
    • 1742, Charles Wesley (music), Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown”:
      Come, O thou Traveller unknown, / Whom still I hold, but cannot see! / My company before is gone, / And I am left alone with Thee; / With Thee all night I mean to stay, / And wrestle till the break of day.
    • 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, OCLC 519072825, page 202:
      At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them []
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 5, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      The departure was not unduly prolonged. In the road Mr. Love and the driver favoured the company with a brief chanty running. “Got it?—No, I ain't, 'old on,—Got it? Got it?—No, 'old on sir.”
  5. (uncountable) Companionship.
    I treasure your company.
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:
      He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

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Related terms

Translations

Verb

company (third-person singular simple present companies, present participle companying, simple past and past participle companied)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To accompany, keep company with.
    • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Acts X:
      Ye dooe knowe howe thatt hytt ys an unlawefull thynge for a man beynge a iewe to company or come unto an alient [...].
    • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 2:
      it was with a distinctly fallen countenance that his father hearkened to his mother's parenthetical request to “’bide hyar an’ company leetle Moses whilst I be a-milkin’ the cow.”
  2. (archaic, intransitive) To associate.
    • Bible, Acts i. 21
      Men which have companied with us all the time.
  3. (obsolete, intransitive) To be a lively, cheerful companion.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)
  4. (obsolete, intransitive) To have sexual intercourse.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Hall to this entry?)

Statistics

Most common English words before 1923: persons · wrote · chief · #611: company · sweet · duty · heavy

Catalan

Pronunciation

  • (Balearic) IPA(key): /komˈpaɲ/
  • (Central) IPA(key): /kumˈpaɲ/
  • (Valencian) IPA(key): /komˈpaɲ/

Noun

company m (plural companys, feminine companya)

  1. companion, colleague
  2. partner, mate