Definition of: company

(kum′pə·nē) noun plural ·nies
1. The society or presence of another or others; fellowship; association.
2. One or more guests or visitors; persons met for social purposes; society.
3. An assemblage or corporation.
4. A partner or partners not named.
5. A number of persons forming a corporation, guild, or partnership, or associated for some common purpose.
6. The person or persons with whom one has companionship: keeping bad company.
7. Mil. A body of men commanded by a captain, larger than a platoon and smaller than a battalion: the basic military unit, equivalent to a battery or troop.
8. Naut. The whole crew of a ship: a ship's company.
9. The entire body of actors and actresses in a play or a theater; cast; a troupe.
10. Obs. Friendship
—to keep company (with) To be sweethearts (with); court.
—to part company (with) To end friendship or association (with).
—v.t. & v.i. ·nied, ·ny·ing Archaic To keep or be in company (with); accompany; associate (with). [OF compagnie <compagnon COMPANION] Synonyms (noun): assemblage, assembly, body, collection, conclave, concourse, conference, congregation, convention, convocation, crowd, gathering, group, host, meeting, multitude, throng. Company is used to include any association of those united permanently or temporarily, for business, pleasure, festivity, travel, etc., or by sorrow, misfortune, or wrong; company implies more unity of feeling and purpose than crowd, and is a less formal and more familiar word than assemblage or assembly. An assemblage may be of persons or of objects; an assembly is usually of persons. Collection, crowd, gathering, group, and multitude have the unorganized and promiscuous character of the assemblage; the other terms come under the general idea of assembly. Body is used of a number of persons so organized and unified that they can be thought of as one whole. Congregation is now almost exclusively religious. Gathering refers to a coming together, commonly of numbers from far and near, as, the gathering of the Scottish clans. See ASSEMBLY, ASSOCIATION, CLASS, FLOCK. Antonyms: dispersion, loneliness, privacy, retirement, seclusion, solitude.