companion vs friend

companion

noun
  • A friend, acquaintance, or partner; someone with whom one spends time or accompanies 

  • A knot in whose neighborhood another, specified knot meets every meridian disk. 

  • An appended source of media or information, designed to be used in conjunction with and to enhance the main material. 

  • A celestial object that is associated with another. 

  • A knight of the lowest rank in certain orders. 

  • The covering of a hatchway on an upper deck which leads to the companionway; the stairs themselves. 

  • The framework on the quarterdeck of a sailing ship through which daylight entered the cabins below. 

  • A thing or phenomenon that is closely associated with another thing, phenomenon, or person. 

friend

noun
  • A person with whom one is vaguely or indirectly acquainted. 

  • A lover; a boyfriend or girlfriend. 

  • Used as a form of address when warning someone. 

  • A spring-loaded camming device. 

  • A person who backs or supports something. 

  • A person, typically someone other than a family member, spouse or lover, whose company one enjoys and towards whom one feels affection. 

  • Used to refer collectively to a group of associated individuals, especially those comprising a cast, company, or crew 

  • A function or class granted special access to the private and protected members of another class. 

  • An associate who provides assistance. 

  • An object or idea that can be used for good. 

verb
  • To add (a person) to a list of friends on a social networking site; to officially designate (someone) as a friend. 

How often have the words companion and friend occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )