Bed
Bed ({not transcribed}) , noun
[Anglo-Saxon bed, bedd; akin to Old Saxon bed, Dutch bed, bedde, Icelandic beer, Danish bed, Swedish badd, Gothic badi, Old High German betti, German bett, bette, bed, beet a plat of ground; all of uncertain origin.]
1.
An article of furniture to sleep or take rest in or on; a couch. Specifically: A sack or mattress, filled with some soft material, in distinction from the bedstead on which it is placed (as, a feather bed), or this with the bedclothes added. In a general sense, any thing or place used for sleeping or reclining on or in, as a quantity of hay, straw, leaves, or twigs.
And made for him [a horse] a leafy bed.
I wash, wring, brew, bake,... make the beds.
In bed he slept not for my urging it.
2.
(Used as the symbol of matrimony) Marriage.
George, the eldest son of his second bed.
3.
A plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a little raised above the adjoining ground.
Beds of hyacinth and roses.
4.
A mass or heap of anything arranged like a bed; as, a bed of ashes or coals.
5.
The bottom of a watercourse, or of any body of water; as, the bed of a river.
So sinks the daystar in the ocean bed.
6.
(Geology) A layer or seam, or a horizontal stratum between layers; as, a bed of coal, iron, etc.
7.
(Gunnery) See Gun carriage, and Mortar bed.
8.
(a) (Masonry) The horizontal surface of a building stone; as, the upper and lower beds.
(b)
(Masonry) A course of stone or brick in a wall.
(c)
(Masonry) The place or material in which a block or brick is laid.
(d)
(Masonry) The lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile. — Knight
9.
(Mechanics) The foundation or the more solid and fixed part or framing of a machine; or a part on which something is laid or supported; as, the bed of an engine.
10.
The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.
11.
(Printing) The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.
Bed is much used adjectively or in combination; as, bed key or bedkey; bed wrench or bedwrench; bedchamber; bedmaker, etc.
Collocations (4)
Bed of justice (French Hist.) , the throne (F. lit bed) occupied by the king when sitting in one of his parliaments (judicial courts); hence, a session of a refractory parliament, at which the king was present for the purpose of causing his decrees to be registered.
To be brought to bed , to be delivered of a child; -- often followed by of; as, to be brought to bed of a son.
To make a bed , to prepare a bed; to arrange or put in order a bed and its bedding.
From bed and board (Law) , a phrase applied to a separation by partial divorce of man and wife, without dissolving the bonds of matrimony. If such a divorce (now commonly called a judicial separation) be granted at the instance of the wife, she may have alimony.
Bed , transitive verb
1.
To place in a bed. [Obsolete] — Bacon
2.
To make partaker of one's bed; to cohabit with.
I'll to the Tuscan wars, and never bed her.
3.
To furnish with a bed or bedding.
4.
To plant or arrange in beds; to set, or cover, as in a bed of soft earth; as, to bed the roots of a plant in mold.
5.
To lay or put in any hollow place, or place of rest and security, surrounded or inclosed; to embed; to furnish with or place upon a bed or foundation; as, to bed a stone; it was bedded on a rock.
Among all chains or clusters of mountains where large bodies of still water are bedded.
6.
(Masonry) To dress or prepare the surface of stone) so as to serve as a bed.
7.
To lay flat; to lay in order; to place in a horizontal or recumbent position.
Bedded hair.
Bed ({not transcribed}) , intransitive verb
To go to bed; to cohabit.
If he be married, and bed with his wife.