to have company
49
1.3
- phrasal verb
- /hæv ˈkʌmpəni/
:
recibir invitados
- When the holidays arrive, we usually have company for dinner.
He will be having company for Dina.
- He will be having company for Dina.
- There is a, there is a large group of people that are lonely, that are isolated, that, that just want to see you to have company and that really does happen.
- It was like, no matter what my dogs say, we cannot have company because his dogs were so fucking nice and so like, you know, pet me, pet me, you know, Alright, cool.
Examples
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We are going to have company.
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Come on, we have company.
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Truth is it's nice to have some company for a change.
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But hurry, we're having company tonight.
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We're going to have company.
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Yeah, awfully nice to have some company.
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I'm glad you'll have company.
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I can't sleep and I thought it'd be nice to have some company for a few minutes.
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Darling, we have company.
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We have company.
Synonyms
466
2.1
To welcome and look after guests at your home or event
1
1.8
Invite people to your home to visit or eat
Antonyms
How Social
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to have guests or visitors' is directly derivable from combining 'have' (to possess or experience) with 'company' (another person's social presence). This is a straightforward, compositional phrase and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will very likely understand it.
Etymology
The phrase have company comes from the simple idea of literally having other people in your home, since company long meant 'companions' or 'guests' who visit. So to have company today means 'to have guests' or people with you.