accompany - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English accompanien, from Old French acompagner (“to associate with”), from compaing (“companion”), nominative singular of compaignon (“companion”). See company.

accompany (third-person singular simple present accompanies, present participle accompanying, simple past and past participle accompanied)

  1. (transitive) To go with or attend as a companion or associate; to keep company with; to go along with.
    Geoffrey accompanied the group on their pilgrimage.
    • 1804, Richard Glover, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      The Persian dames, […] / In sumptuous cars, accompanied his march.
    • 1581, Philip Sidney, An Apology of Poetry, or a Defense of Poesy, Book I:
      They are never alone that are accompanied with noble thoughts.
  2. (transitive) To supplement with; add to.
    • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […] , the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.
  3. (intransitive, music) To perform an accompanying part or parts in a composition.
  4. (transitive, music) To perform an accompanying part next to (another instrument or musician).
    The strings were accompanied by two woodwinds.
    I will accompany her on the oboe.
    • 1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 185:
      The Ukrainian folk-song is cultivated orally by the blind singers (Kobsari) who accompany themselves on string instruments.
  5. (intransitive, obsolete) To associate in a company; to keep company.
  6. (intransitive, obsolete) To cohabit (with). (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  7. (transitive, obsolete) To cohabit with; to coexist with; occur with.
  8. To be found at the same time.
    Thunder almost always accompanies lightning during a rain storm.

(to go with): Traditionally, persons were said to be accompanied by, and inanimate objects, states or conditions were said to be accompanied with. However, this distinction is not generally observed today, and by is becoming predominant.

to attend as a companion

to perform an accompanying part or parts in a composition

to perform an accompanying part next to another instrument

obsolete: to keep company

Translations to be checked