- company
- [[t]kʌ̱mpəni[/t]]
♦companies1) N-COUNT-COLL: oft in names after n A company is a business organization that makes money by selling goods or services.
Sheila found some work as a secretary in an insurance company.
...the Ford Motor Company.
Syn:2) N-COUNT-COLL: oft in names after n A company is a group of opera singers, dancers, or actors who work together....the Phoenix Dance Company.
3) N-COUNT: oft in names after n A company is a group of soldiers that is usually part of a battalion or regiment, and that is divided into two or more platoons.The division will consist of two tank companies and one infantry company...
C Company's sentries were just ahead.
4) N-UNCOUNT Company is having another person or other people with you, usually when this is pleasant or stops you feeling lonely.`I won't stay long.' - `No, please. I need the company'...
Ross had always enjoyed the company of women...
She would be grateful for their company on the drive back...
I'm not in the mood for company.
5) → See also , public company6) PHRASE: n-proper PHR You can say and company after mentioning a person's name, to refer also to the people who are associated with that person. [INFORMAL]Keegan and company approached the game with understandable caution.
7) PHRASE: V inflects If you say that someone is in good company, you mean that they should not be ashamed of a mistake or opinion, because some important or respected people have made the same mistake or have the same opinion.Mr Koo is in good company. The prime minister made a similar slip a couple of years back.
8) PHRASE: V inflects If you have company, you have a visitor or friend with you.He didn't say he had had company.
9) PHRASE: v-link PHR, PHR after v When you are in company, you are with a person or group of people.When they were in company she always seemed to dominate the conversation...
I feel awkward and shy in company.
Ant:10) PHR-PREP: PHR n If you feel, believe, or know something in company with someone else, you both feel, believe, or know it. [FORMAL]Saudi Arabia, in company with some other Gulf oil states, is concerned to avoid any repetition of the two oil price shocks of the 1970s.
11) PHRASE: V inflects If you keep someone company, you spend time with them and stop them feeling lonely or bored.Why don't you stay here and keep Emma company?
12) PHRASE: V inflects If you keep company with a person or with a particular kind of person, you spend a lot of time with them.He keeps company with all sorts of lazy characters.
13) PHR-RECIP: V inflects, pl-n PHR, PHR with n If two or more people part company, they go in different directions after going in the same direction together. [WRITTEN]The three of them parted company at the bus stop.
14) PHR-RECIP: V inflects, PHR with n, pl-n PHR If you part company with someone, you end your association with them, often because of a disagreement. [FORMAL]Boris Becker has parted company with his Austrian trainer...
We have agreed to part company after differences of opinion.
15) PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR with n If you part company with someone on a particular subject, you disagree with them on it. [FORMAL]Where I part company with him, however, is over the link he forges between science and liberalism.
16) PHRASE: PHR with cl (politeness) If you are making a general, unfavourable comment about a particular type of person, and you are with people of that type, you can say `present company excepted' as a way of making your comment sound more polite. [SPOKEN]
English dictionary. 2008.
