bed

A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.

Noun

  1. A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
    • My cat often sleeps on my bed.
    • I keep a glass of water next to my bed when I sleep.
    • At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or...

    1. (countable) A mattress.

      • I find her bed too soft.

    2. (countable) A bedframe.

      • That huge wood bed is too heavy for us to carry it that far.

    3. A prepared spot in which to spend the night.

      • When camping, he usually makes a bed for the night from hay and a blanket.

    4. (usually after a preposition) One's place of sleep or rest.

      • Go to bed!
      • I had breakfast in bed this morning.

    5. (uncountable, usually after a preposition) Sleep; rest; getting to sleep.

      • He's been afraid of bed since he saw the scary film.

    6. (uncountable, usually after a preposition) The time for going to sleep or resting in bed; bedtime.

      • I read until bed.

    7. (countable) The equipment, staffing, etc., required for a patient in a medical institution.

      • We have a patient who needs a bed right away.

    8. (uncountable) Time spent in a bed.

      • I am quite sure that too much bed, if not too much sleep, is prejudicial, though a certain amount is absolutely necessary. - 1903, Thomas Stretch Dowse, Lectures on Massage and Electricity in the Treatment of Disease,...
      • Some prisoners, indeed, are always up before the bell rings — such was my practice — they prefer to grope about in the dark to tossing about in the utter weariness of too much bed. - 1907, Jabez Spencer Balfour, My...
      • This condition is one of the dangers of “too much bed”. The nurse should inspect the legs of each patient daily - 1972, James Verney Cable, Principles of Medicine: An Integrated Textbook for Nurses:

    9. (figurative) Marriage.

      • George, the eldest son of his second bed. - 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […],...

    10. (figurative, uncountable) Sexual activity.

      • Too much bed, not enough rest.

    11. Clipping of bedroom.

      • 2 beds, 1 bath
  2. A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
    • The meats and cheeses lay on a bed of lettuce.

    1. (countable) The bottom of a body of water, such as an ocean, sea, lake, or river.

      • sea bed
      • river bed
      • There’s a lot of trash on the bed of the river.

    2. An area where a large number of oysters, mussels, other sessile shellfish, or a large amount of seaweed is found.

      • Oysters are farmed from their beds.
      • I knew that there were kelp beds and reefs which could rip the bottoms from boats down in Skedans Bay. - 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck:

    3. A garden plot.

      • We added a new bush to our rose bed.
      • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a...

    4. A foundation or supporting surface formed of a fluid.

      • A bed of concrete makes a strong subsurface for an asphalt parking lot.

    5. The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.

    6. (US, Canada, automotive) The platform of a truck, trailer, wagon, railcar, or other vehicle that supports the load to be hauled.

      • The parcels were loaded onto the truck bed before transportation.

      Synonyms: tray

    7. A shaped piece of timber to hold a cask clear of a ship’s floor; a pallet.

    8. (printing, dated) The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.

    9. (computing) The flat surface of a scanner on which a document is placed to be scanned.

    10. A piece of music, normally instrumental, over which a radio DJ talks.

    11. (darts) Any of the sections of a dartboard with a point value, delimited by a wire.

    12. (trampoline) The taut surface of a trampoline.

      • These 5 judges mark the athlete's staying in the center of the bed, uniformity of bounce heights, and general style. - 2000, Sports: The Complete Visual Reference:
  3. A horizontal layer or surface.

    1. A deposit of ore, coal, etc.

    2. (countable, geology) The smallest division of a geologic formation or stratigraphic rock series marked by well-defined divisional planes (bedding planes) separating it from layers above and below.

      Synonyms: layer stratum

    3. (masonry) The horizontal surface of a building stone.

      • the upper and lower beds

    4. (masonry) The lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile.

    5. (masonry) A course of stone or brick in a wall.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *badją Proto-West Germanic *badi Old English bedd Middle English bed English bed Inherited from Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją (“resting-place, plot of ground”). Cognates Cognate with Scots bed, North Frisian baad, beed, Bēr, Saterland Frisian Bääd, West Frisian bêd, Cimbrian pett, Dutch bed, Dutch Low Saxon bedde, German Bett, Bette, German Low German Bedd, Luxembourgish Bett, Vilamovian bet, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål bed, Faroese and Icelandic beð, beður, Norwegian Nynorsk bed, bedd, Swedish bädd, Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌳𐌹 (badi), all meaning “bed”. further possible etymology and cognates The Proto-Germanic term may in turn be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”) with various theories explaining the development in meaning. If it is, the term is also cognate with Ancient Greek βοθυρος...

Forms

beds

Synonyms

bed hay kip rack sack

Hypernyms

furniture

Hyponyms

pallet shakedown berth bunk bunk bed camp bed canopy bed cradle crib cot day bed double bed four-poster futon hammock loft bed Murphy bed sofa-bed truckle bed trundle bed twin bed waterbed

Related

go to bed :Category:en:Bedding

Derived

abed air bed alveolar bed angel bed ant-bed apple-pie bed arrester bed asparagus bed bark bed bed and board bed and breakfast bed-and-breakfast → B&B-ing B&B deal B&B transaction bed bath bed blocker bed blocking bedboard bedbound bedbox bed-breaking bedbug bedchair bedchamber

Verb

  1. Senses relating to a bed as a place for resting or sleeping.
    • I usually listen to music before I bed.

    1. (intransitive) To go to bed; to put oneself to sleep.

    2. (transitive) To place in a bed.

      • For she was not only publicly contracted, but stated as a bride, and solemnly bedded, and after she was laid, there came in Maximilian's ambassador with letters of procuration - 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St....

    3. (transitive) To furnish with a bed or bedding.

    4. (ambitransitive) To have sex (with).

      • And he who lies with another Man's Wife after she is married, even before her Husband had bedded with her, is guilty of Adultery, […] - 1730, William Forbes, The Institutes of the Law of Scotland, page 121:

      Synonyms: coitize go to bed with sleep with Formal terms bed coit dight enjoy feague go in unto have know lie by lie with love mount occupy penetrate season seduce take Any of Thesaurus:copulate + "with" Informal and slang terms ball

    5. (intransitive, hunting) Of large game animals: to be at rest.

  2. Senses relating to a bed as a place or layer on which something else rests or is laid.
    • 1810/1835, William Wordsworth, Guide to the Lakes Among all chains or clusters of mountains where large bodies of still water are bedded.
    • But I must warn you that chipboard floors are always likely to squeak. The material is still being used in new-builds, but developers now use adhesive to bed and joint it, rather than screws or nails. I suspect the...

    1. (transitive) To lay or put in any hollow place, or place of rest and security, surrounded or enclosed; to embed.

    2. (transitive) To set in a soft matrix, as paving stones in sand, or tiles in cement.

    3. (transitive) To set out (plants) in a garden bed.

    4. (transitive) To dress or prepare the surface of (stone) so it can serve as a bed.

    5. (transitive) To lay flat; to lay in order; to place in a horizontal or recumbent position.

      • Your bedded hair like life in excrements - c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio),...

    6. To settle, as machinery.

Forms

beds bedding bedded

Derived

bed down embed