[f. COMPANION sb.1 + -HOOD.] = COMPANIONSHIP; esp. in sense 3.
1862. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), IV. xxxvi. 260. We shall find reason to believe, when we come to review the characters of the literary companionhood which surrounded the board of Mæcenas, that the patron was, even in his most festive hours, still playing a part, and governing the world from the head of his table, by the wit and wisdom of his well-trained associates.
1877. T. Sinclair, Mount, 196. Attitudinising … creatures, like too many of the companionhood.
