Naut. [cf. Du. kompanje, now usually kampanje, ‘quarter-deck’ (i.e., above the cabin in the old ships of the line), in Kilian (1598), kompanghe, Witsen (1671), kompagne, Dict. de Marine (1702), kompanie, corresp. to OF. compagne ‘chambre du majordome d’une galère’ (Littré), It. compagna, more fully chambre de la compagne, camera della compagna, expl. by Jal as ‘chambre aux vivres journaliers, cambuse’ (see CABOOSE), from It. and med.L. compagna, OCat. companya = COMPANAGE, compānāticum, ‘vivres, provisions de bouche’ (Jal).
The (camera della) Compagna was thus originally the pantry or store-room of provisions in the mediæval galley, found already in 14th c. Pantero-Pantera, Armata Navale (Rome, 1613), iv. 45, describes it as ‘la camera della Campagna, che serve come una dispensa, nella quale sta il vino. il companatico, cioè carne salata, il formaggio, l’oglio, l’ aceto, i salumi, e l’ altre robbe simili’ (Jal). The name has passed in Du. and Eng. to other structures erected on the deck. In Eng. corrupted by sailors into conformity with COMPANION1 (to which it is indeed related in origin).]
‘The framing and sash-lights upon the quarter-deck or round-house, through which light passes to the cabins and decks below; a sort of wooden hood placed over the entrance or staircase of the master’s cabin in small ships’ (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.). Sometimes short for companion-ladder, -way (see b).
1762. Falconer, Shipwr., II. 243. Companion, binnacle, in floating wreck With compasses and glasses strew’d the deck. Ibid. (1769), Dict. Marine (1789), Companion, a sort of wooden porch placed over the entrance or stair-case of the master’s cabin in a merchant-ship.
1849. Illust. Lond. News, 13 Oct., 244. A very pretty companion, or round house [of steam yacht].
1869. Lady Barker, Station Life N. Zealand, i. (1874), 3. I have been in the cuddy when a sea found its way down the companion.
1880. Daily Tel., 7 Sept. The time-keeper, who sits at the head of the companion.
b. Comb., as companion-door, -hasp, -stairs; companion-hatch, -head, a wooden covering over the staircase to a cabin; companion-hatchway, an opening in the deck leading to a cabin; companion-ladder, a ladder leading from the deck to a cabin; also, ‘the ladder by which the officers ascend to, and descend from, the quarter-deck’; companion-way, ‘the staircase, porch, or berthing of the ladder-way to the cabin’ (Adm. Smyth).
1823. Scoresby, Jrnl. N. Whale Fishery, 43. We … kept the companion-door constantly closed.
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1858), 16. He had just laid his hand on the *companion-hasp to undo the door. Ibid., 17. The fearful wave … swept her *companion-head … cleanly off by the deck.
1836. Marryat, Midsh. Easy, xxiv. Jack … put the porter on the *companion hatch.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 72. The *companion hatchway, for the convenience of the officers.
1830. Scott, Demonol., x. 363. The instant he got up the *companion-ladder he heard a splash in the water.
1816. ‘Quiz,’ Grand Master, I. 8. Mounting the *companion stairs.
1840. R. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxxii. ‘Sail ho!’ shouted the captain down the *companion-way to the passengers.
