bedfellow

1 a temporary associate; "politics makes strange bedfellows"

2 a person with whom you share a bed

English

Etymology

bed + fellow

Noun

1. One with whom one shares a bed.

   1599 Young budding virgin, fair and fresh and sweet,

   Whither away, or where is thy abode?

   Happy the parents of so fair a child;

   Happier the man whom favourable stars

   Allot thee for his lovely bed-fellow.

   — Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act 4, Scene 5.

2. An associate, often an otherwise improbable one.

   1873 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. — Anthony Trollope, Phineas Redux, Chapter 40.

ace, adjunct, ally, amigo, associate, bedmate, bosom buddy, brother, brother-in-arms, buddy, bunkie, bunkmate, butty, camarade, chamberfellow, chum, classmate, coadjutor, cohort, colleague, comate, companion, company, compatriot, compeer, comrade, confederate, confrere, consociate, consort, copartner, crony, fellow, fellow member, fellow student, girl friend, gossip, mate, messmate, old crony, pal, pard, pardner, partner, playfellow, playmate, roommate, schoolfellow, schoolmate, shipmate, side partner, sidekick, teammate, workfellow, yokefellow, yokemate