fellow

Someone who identifies with or is sympathetic to the aims or ideology of a political movement or organization, but is not a formal or full member of it. Used especially in the 1950s in reference to those suspected of being communist sympathizers. In my grandfather's day, if someone accused you of being a fellow traveler, it was often to derail your career completely. Despite having a mark against him as a "fellow traveler," he still managed to remain at the Hollywood elite. Many people's political careers were ruined when they were incorrectly labeled "fellow travelers."

Used as an intensifier to indicate an extreme degree of something, especially that which is difficult, frustrating, or vexing. I'm having the devil of a time getting this computer to work. Something must be wrong with it. We knew it would be a devil of a job overhauling the entire network, but it was unavoidable. These weeds can become a devil of a nuisance if you let them grow for too long.

Neatly groomed. My sister likes long-haired bad boys, but I've always thought that clean-cut guys are cuter. Ugh, please don't encourage my boyfriend's beard. I miss his clean-cut look. A: "Your sister wants all the guys in the wedding party to be clean-cut, got it?" B: "Come on, even her own brothers?" A: "Especially them, I suspect."

A person who is extremely wicked, malevolent, or unpleasant. Only a devil of a man would do something like this, knowing that it would cause harm to so many people. The leader of the gang was a devil of a woman, known to kill anyone who stood in her way. Good luck dealing with Bob in Accounting, he's a devil of a fellow.

Very friendly, often obnoxiously or disingenuously so. I don't think George is as nice as he seems—he just strikes me as hail-fellow-well-met. A: "I don't trust anyone who's hail-fellow-well-met like that." B: "Right? No one is just naturally that friendly." No, Kate is just genuinely a really nice, caring person—not hail-fellow-well-met.

A good-natured, dependable person. Oh, Sarah will certainly help you with that—she's a regular fellow. We're looking for a couple of regular fellows to help with our project this weekend.

A good-natured, dependable man. Oh, Earl will certainly help you with that—he's a regular guy. We're looking for a couple of regular guys to help with our project this weekend.

A pair of people, things, or groups connected in a certain situation or activity but extremely different in overall characteristics, opinions, ideologies, lifestyles, behaviors, etc. A notorious playboy musician and an ultra-conservative media pundit may be strange bedfellows, but the two are coming together all this month to bring a spotlight to suicide awareness. I thought that the two writers would make strange bedfellows, given the drastically different nature of their writing, but the books they've co-written actually work really well.

having to do with a person (usually male) who is neat and tidy. He's a very clean-cut guy, and polite too. He's sort of clean-cut looking, but with curly hair.

Fig. friendly to everyone; falsely friendly to everyone. (Usually said of males.) Yes, he's friendly, sort of hale-fellow-well-met. He's not a very sincere person. Hail-fellow-well-met—you know the type. What a pain he is. Good old Mr. Hail-fellow-well-met. What a phony!

a normal and dependable guy. Don't worry about Tom. He's a regular guy. He won't give you any trouble.

Also, regular fellow. A nice or agreeable person, as in Luke's a regular guy, or Hilda's a regular fellow. [Colloquial; first half of 1800s]

A peculiar alliance or combination, as in George and Arthur really are strange bedfellows, sharing the same job but totally different in their views . Although strictly speaking bedfellows are persons who share a bed, like husband and wife, the term has been used figuratively since the late 1400s. This particular idiom may have been invented by Shakespeare in The Tempest (2:2), "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows." Today a common extension is politics makes strange bedfellows, meaning that politicians form peculiar associations so as to win more votes. A similar term is odd couple, a pair who share either housing or a business but are very different in most ways. This term gained currency with Neil Simon's Broadway play The Odd Couple and, even more, with the motion picture (1968) and subsequent television series based on it, contrasting housemates Felix and Oscar, one meticulously neat and obsessively punctual, the other extremely messy and casual.

A fellow traveller is someone who supports the aims of an organization but is not a member of it. Note: `Traveller' is spelled `traveler' in American English. Although something of a critical fellow traveller, Sampson was very interested in the party.

On easy, congenial terms; also, superficial friendliness. This expression, which has a quintessentially Victorian ring, actually dates from the sixteenth century. Presumably it began as a greeting, but by 1550 it was being used figuratively and so appeared in Thomas Becon’s New Catechisme (“They would be ‘hail fellow well met’ with him”).

An odd couple; a peculiar combination. Shakespeare appears to have originated the term, with his “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows” (The Tempest, 2.2). Several centuries later, Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote (The Caxtons, 1849), “Poverty has strange bedfellows.” Today we often say that politics makes strange bedfellows, meaning that politicians form odd associations in order to win more support or votes.

Someone sympathetic to the beliefs and activities of an organization but not a member of that group. The phrase originally applied to people in the early days of the Soviet Union who supported the Russian revolution and the Communist Party but were not members. Communism was popular among many American intellectuals during the 1930s and '40s, but following World War II, this country's attitude toward the Soviets changed in light of Stalin's purges and revelations of espionage. Accusations that Soviet sympathizers had infiltrated our government and military led to congressional investigations, and the phrase “fellow traveler” was used to label those accused of “un-American” activities or even just “Communist dupes.” Many such people found themselves blacklisted or otherwise persecuted. A rarely used vestige of the phrase now applies to anyone who agrees with any viewpoint or faction but does not publicly work for it. The Soviet Union named its early space satellites “Sputnik,” the Russian word for “fellow traveler.”