fellow travellerfellow travelern.
/ˌfɛləʊ ˈtravl̩ə/, /ˌfɛləʊ ˈtravlə/, U.S. /ˌfɛloʊ ˈtræv(ə)lər/ 1. A person travelling in the company of another specified person; a travelling companion. Also figurative and in figurative contexts.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > traveller > [noun] > companion
companionc1325
samenferec1400
wayferea1450
lodes-mate1575
fellow traveller1581
way-mate1628
synodite1655
escort1745
compagnon de voyage1768
1581 J. Nicholls Pilgrimage sig. G6 Oh my friend and fellowe traueller, hast thou seene the horrible abuses of these monstrous and ougly hypocrites?
1611 T. Coryate Crudities Ep. Ded. sig. a7 Often disswaded by some of my fellow trauellers from gathering any Obseruations at all till I came into Italie.
1664 T. Herbert Some Years Trav. (new ed.) 125 Elpenor his fellow-traveller being dead.
1711 J. Addison Spectator No. 58. ¶12 The Impatience of my Friends and Fellow-Travellers.
1776 D. Garrick Let. 18 June (1963) III. 1111 We beg that our warmest and best wishes may be presented to your fellow-traveller, the Chevalier Chatteleux.
a1807 W. Wordsworth Prelude (1959) vi. 210 The brook and road Were fellow-travellers in this gloomy Pass.
1829 E. Bulwer-Lytton Devereux II. iv. viii. 269 My veteran fellow-traveller took leave of me.
1862 H. B. Stowe Agnes of Sorrento vi. 65 The devotee who sought to progress faster toward heaven than suited the paces of her fellow-travellers was reckoned a troublesome enthusiast.
1919 J. Buchan Mr. Standfast xv. 249 The reflections of that porter would have surprised his fellow travellers in the stuffy third-class carriage.
1986 Daily Tel. 18 Sept. 13/4 It was satisfying to find, while stuck at a railway signal for half an hour.., that a fellow traveller was carrying a cell-net telephone.
1996 S. N. Kalyvas Rise of Christian Democracy in Europe p. x I also thank my fellow travelers on this long intellectual journey.
2005 Independent (Nexis) 17 Mar. 7 My fellow traveller starts to heave a suitcase from the bus's luggage bay.
2. A person who supports the Communist movement without actually being a party member; a Communist sympathizer (now chiefly historical). Also more generally: a sympathizer with any specified person or cause.With quot. 1927 cf. note in etymology.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > political philosophy > communism > [noun] > sympathizing with > one who
fellow traveller1927
1927 Nation (N.Y.) 23 Feb. 219/1 He protests against being called a poputchik;..a ‘fellow-traveler’, having accepted the revolution at its inception. At the same time, he argues, ‘I am not a party man.’
1936 Nation (N.Y.) 24 Oct. 471/1 The new phenomenon is the fellow-traveler. The term has a Russian background and means someone who does not accept all your aims but has enough in common with you to accompany you in a comradely fashion part of the way. In this campaign both Mr. Landon and Mr. Roosevelt have acquired fellow-travelers.
1942 E. Waugh Put out More Flags ii. 131 ‘I was never a party member.’ ‘Party?’ ‘Communist party. I was what they call in their horrible jargon, a fellow traveller.’
1969 L. Woolf Journey not Arrival Matters iii. 139 He was distinctly a Fellow Traveller, and may, for all I knew, have been a member of the Communist Party.
2004 Observer (Nexis) 30 May 29 The fear, sedulously promoted by UKIP and its fellow travellers, that Europe is a conspiracy against Britain.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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