bed: Meaning and Definition of

bed

Pronunciation: (bed), [key]
— n., v., bed•ded, bed•ding.
—n.
  1. a piece of furniture upon which or within which a person sleeps, rests, or stays when not well.
  2. the mattress and bedclothes together with the bedstead of a bed.
  3. the bedstead alone.
  4. the act of or time for sleeping: Now for a cup of cocoa and then bed.
  5. the use of a bed for the night; lodging: I reserved a bed at the old inn.
  6. the marital relationship.
  7. any resting place: making his bed under a tree.
  8. something resembling a bed in form or position.
  9. a piece or area of ground in a garden or lawn in which plants are grown.
  10. an area in a greenhouse in which plants are grown.
  11. the plants in such areas.
  12. the bottom of a lake, river, sea, or other body of water.
  13. a piece or part forming a foundation or base.
  14. a layer of rock; a stratum.
  15. a foundation surface of earth or rock supporting a track, pavement, or the like: a gravel bed for the roadway.
  16. a stone laid on bed.
    1. the underside of a stone, brick, slate, tile, etc., laid in position.
    2. the upper side of a stone laid in position.
    3. the layer of mortar in which a brick, stone, etc., is laid.
    4. the natural stratification of a stone:a stone laid on bed.
  17. skirt (def. 6b).
  18. the flat surface in a printing press on which the form of type is laid.
  19. the body or, sometimes, the floor or bottom of a truck or trailer.
  20. a compact mass of a substance functioning in a reaction as a catalyst or reactant.
    1. the canvas surface of a trampoline.
    2. the smooth, wooden floor of a bowling alley.
    3. the slate surface of a billiard table to which the cloth is fastened.
  21. flesh enveloping the base of a claw, esp. the germinative layer beneath the claw.
  22. Also calleda shaped steel pattern upon which furnaced plates for the hull of a vessel are hammered to shape.
  23. See
  24. to be irritable or bad-tempered from the start of a day: Never try to reason with him when he's gotten up on the wrong side of the bed.
    1. to retire, esp. for the night.
    2. to engage in sexual relations.
  25. to have sexual intercourse with.
    1. beneath the covers of a bed.
    2. engaged in sexual intercourse.
  26. to form a close, often temporary, alliance, usually with an unlikely ally: Industry was charged with jumping into bed with labor on the issue.
  27. to fit a bed with sheets and blankets.
  28. to be responsible for one's own actions and their results: You've made your bed--now lie in it.
    1. to help (a child, invalid, etc.) go to bed.
    2. Printing.to lock up (forms) in a press in preparation for printing.
    3. to work on the preparation of (an edition of a newspaper, periodical, etc.) up to the time of going to press.
—v.t.
  1. to provide with a bed.
  2. to put to bed.
  3. to plant in or as in a bed.
  4. to lay flat.
  5. to place in a bed or layer: to bed oysters.
  6. to embed, as in a substance: bedding the flagstones in concrete.
  7. to take or accompany to bed for purposes of sexual intercourse.
—v.i.
  1. to have sleeping accommodations: He says we can bed there for the night.
  2. to form a compact layer or stratum.
  3. (of a metal structural part) to lie flat or close against another part.
  4. to go to bed.
  5. They put out the fire and decided to bed down for the night.
    1. to make a bed for (a person, animal, etc.).
    2. to retire to bed:They put out the fire and decided to bed down for the night.

B.Ed.

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. Bachelor of Education.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
See also:
  • bed (Thesaurus)