keep company

keep company idiom
  1. Also, keep company with. Associate with; also, carry on a courtship. For example, He keeps company with a wild bunch, or Jack and Françoise kept company for two years before they married. [Mid-1500s]
  2. keep someone company. Accompany or remain with someone, as in Mary kept Mother company while she shopped, or Do you want me to stay and keep you company? This term was originally put as bear someone company. [c. 1300]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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