bed
see also: BED
Etymology

From Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją.

Cognate with Northern Frisian baad, beed, Saterland Frisian Bääd, Western Frisian bêd, Low German Bedd, Dutch bed, German Bett, Swedish bädd, Icelandic beður, all meaning “bed”.

The Proto-Germanic term may in turn be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰh₂- with various theories explaining the development in meaning.

Pronunciation
  • (RP, America) IPA: /bɛd/
  • (AAVE, some speakers) IPA: [beː]
  • (Australia) IPA: /bed/
Noun

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.
      • 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. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC ↗:
        George, the eldest son of his second bed.
    7. (figurative, uncountable) Sexual activity.
      Too much bed, not enough rest.
    8. 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. The bottom of a body of water, such as an ocean, sea, lake, or river. [from later 16thc.]
      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.
      • 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck:
        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 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC ↗, page 168 ↗:
        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, wagon, railcar, or other vehicle that supports the load to be hauled.
      Synonyms: tray
      Hyponym: truckbed
      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.
    12. (trampoline) The taut surface of a trampoline.
  3. (heading) A horizontal 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.
Translations

see bed/translations

Verb

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

  1. Senses relating to a bed as a place for resting or sleeping.
    1. (intransitive) To go to bed; to put oneself to sleep.
      I usually listen to music before I bed.
    2. (transitive) To place in a bed.
      • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC ↗:
        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
    3. (transitive) To furnish with a bed or bedding.
    4. (ambitransitive) To have sex (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, […]
    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.
    1. (transitive) To lay or put in any hollow place, or place of rest and security, surrounded or enclosed; to embed.
      • 1810/1835, William Wordsworth, Guide to the Lakes
        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 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene iv]:
        Your bedded hair like life in excrements
    6. To settle, as machinery.
Translations

see bed/translations


BED
Noun

bed (plural beds)

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



This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Offline English dictionary