to keep (someone) company
41
2.2
- phrasal verb
- /kip ˈsʌmˌwʌn ˈkʌmpəni/
:
hacer compañía (a alguien)
- And you'll have two lovely sisters to keep you company.
- come and keep him company
- stay and keep him company
- get someone to keep you company
Examples
-
Does he intend to sit down and keep me company for the night?
Fiction book (1998) -
I wanted to keep Otis company.
-
I think we'll just hang around and keep you company.
-
David was keeping me company.
-
"You stay here and keep her company, young man," she ordered as she left the room.
Fiction book (1995) -
"But you said you wanted something to keep you company, Grandma."
Fiction book (2002) -
"Ben, will you stay here and keep me company?" my grandmother asked.
Fiction book (1990) -
What would she do, alone and isolated, without anyone to keep her company?
Fiction book (1994) -
Lately, Kenny's been going for haircuts every Saturday, and I've been keeping him company.
Fiction book (1996) -
We're gonna leave Officer Johnson here to keep you company while we check on some things.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To remain in one place and not leave
332
2.9
Stay in a place to wait for something
219
3.5
To go somewhere with someone as a companion
14
3.3
Spend time with someone so they are not alone
Antonyms
How Much Company
Surface Forms
Morphology
This meaning is transparely compositional: 'keep' (to look after/provide for) + 'company' (someone's social presence) straightforwardly yields 'stay with someone so they are not alone.' The slot '(someone)' is just an argument; the construction is common cross-linguistically, so an average B1 learner who knows the parts should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Keep (someone) company comes from a simple old image of friends travelling together and sharing a meal: keep means to stay with someone and company means a person to be with. So, when you keep someone company, you stay with them so they are 'not alone'.