strange bedfellows

strange bedfellows

English

Etymology

1610, from Shakespeare's The Tempest.[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

strange bedfellows pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic) An unusual combination or political alliance.
   • 1996, Tony Downey; Nigel Smith, Russia and the USSR, 1900-1995, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN, page 66:

     The USA and the USSR were strange bedfellows. They were united only in their opposition to Hitler and Fascism.

   • 2002, Teresa Brennan, Between Feminism and Psychoanalysis, Routledge, →ISBN:

     Lacan and feminism: strange bedfellows? There never was an alliance between the person Lacan and feminism.

Translations

unusual combination or political alliance

Estonian: ootamatud liitlased pl Russian: неожи́данные сою́зники pl (neožídannyje sojúzniki), стра́нные компаньо́ны pl (stránnyje kompanʹóny)

See also

• in bed with
• make common cause
• unholy alliance

References

1. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene ii], page 9:

   Alas, the storm is come again! My best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there is no other shelter hereabout: misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows.