• (RP, GA) IPA: /bɛd/
• (AAVE, some speakers) IPA: [beː]
• (AU) IPA: /bed/

bed (plural beds)

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

      I read until bed.

   5. (uncountable) Time spent in a bed.
   6. (figurative) Marriage.

      • George, the eldest son of his second bed.

   7. (figurative, uncountable) Sexual activity.

      Too much bed, not enough rest.

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. The bottom of a body of water, such as an ocean, sea, lake, or river. [from later 16^thc.]

      sea bed;  river bed;  lake 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.

      • 1941, Emily Carr, Klee Wyck, Chapter 18,

        I knew that there were kelp beds and reefs which could rip the bottoms from boats down in Skedans Bay.

   3. A garden plot.

      We added a new bush to our rose bed.

      • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter V, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326 ↗:

        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 crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

   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. The platform of a truck, trailer, railcar, or other vehicle that supports the load to be hauled.

      Synonyms: tray

      The parcels were loaded onto the truck bed before transportation.

   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.
3. (heading) A layer or surface.
   1. A deposit of ore, coal, etc.
   2. (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.

• German: Bett
• Portuguese: cama, leito
• Russian: крова́ть
• Spanish: cama, lecho, catre, piltra (colloquial), sobre (colloquial)

• Portuguese: leito
• Russian: посте́ль

• German: Lager (outdoor) (indoor if not a standard bed), Bett (bed)
• Portuguese: cama
• Russian: посте́ль

• German: Fläche, Bett, Boden, Grund, Ladefläche, Auflagefläche, Lager, Auflager
• Portuguese: superfície
• Spanish: lecho

• Portuguese: base, alicerce

• German: Boden lake, sea, Grund sea, Bett river
• Portuguese: leito
• Russian: дно
• Spanish: lecho

• German: Bank
• Portuguese: banco
• Russian: ба́нка

• German: Beet
• Portuguese: canteiro
• Russian: клу́мба

• German: Ladefläche
• Russian: пло́щадь ку́зова

• Russian: подло́жка

• German: Lager
• Portuguese: leito, estrato
• Russian: пласт

bed (beds, present participle bedding; past and past participle bedded)

1. Senses relating to a bed as a place for resting or sleeping.
   1. (intransitive) To go to bed.
   2. (transitive) To place in a bed.
   3. To put oneself to sleep.
   4. (transitive) To furnish with a bed or bedding.
   5. (ambitransitive) To have sexual intercourse with. [from early 14th c.]

      Synonyms: coitize, go to bed with, sleep with, Thesaurus:copulate with

      • 1730, William Forbes, The Institutes of the Law of Scotland (page 121)

        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, […]

2. Senses relating to a bed as a place or layer on which something else rests or is laid.
   1. (transitive) To lay or put in any hollow place, or place of rest and security, surrounded or enclosed; to embed.

      • Among all chains or clusters of mountains where large bodies of still water are bedded.

   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.
      • c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene iv]:

        Your bedded hair like life in excrements

   6. To settle, as machinery.

• German: schlafen gehen
• Italian: langname=Italian
• Portuguese: deitar
• Spanish: ir a la cama (pronominal)

• German: sich betten
• Portuguese: dormir

• Portuguese: dormir com
• Spanish: encamar (pronominal)

bed (plural beds)

1. Alternative form of B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education).
2. Initialism of banana equivalent dose
3. Initialism of binge eating disorder