n.

1. 1. A piece of furniture for reclining and sleeping, typically consisting of a flat, rectangular frame and a mattress resting on springs.
   2. A bedstead.
   3. A mattress.
2. 1. A place where one may sleep; lodging: found bed and board at an inn.
   2. Accommodations for a single person at a hospital or institution: a maternity ward with 30 beds.
3. A time at which one goes to sleep: drank milk before bed.
4. A place for lovemaking.
5. A marital relationship with its rights and intimacies.
6. 1. A small plot of cultivated or planted land: a flower bed.
   2. An underwater or intertidal area in which a particular organism is established in large numbers: a clam bed; an oyster bed.
7. The bottom of a body of water, such as a stream.
8. A supporting, underlying, or securing part, especially:
   1. A layer of food surmounted by another kind of food: tomatoes on a bed of lettuce.
   2. A foundation of crushed rock or a similar substance for a road or railroad; a roadbed.
   3. A layer of mortar upon which stones or bricks are laid.
9. Printing. The heavy table of a printing press in which the type form is placed.
10. The part of a truck, trailer, or freight car designed to carry loads.
11. Geology.
    1. A rock mass of large horizontal extent bounded, especially above, by physically different material.
    2. A deposit, as of ore, parallel to local stratification.
12. A heap of material: a bed of wood chips.

v., bed·ded, bed·ding, beds.

v.tr.

1. To furnish with a bed or sleeping quarters: We bedded our guests down in the study.
2. To put or send to bed.
3. To have sexual relations with.
4. To plant in a prepared plot of soil.
5. To lay flat or arrange in layers.
6. 1. To embed.
   2. To establish; base.

v.intr.

1. To go to bed.
2. Geology. To form layers or strata.

idioms:

get into bed with

1. Slang. To become closely involved with another person or group, as in an intrigue: “The Israelis were experienced at this kind of [covert] … work, but it was essential that the administration not get into bed with them on this” (Bob Woodward).

go to bed with

1. To have sexual relations with.

[Middle English, from Old English.]

noun

The lowest or supporting part or structure: base, basis, bottom, foot, footing, foundation, fundament, ground, groundwork, seat, substratum, underpinning (often used in plural). See over/under.

verb

1. To go to bed. retire. Informal turn in. Slang crash, flop. Idioms: call it a night, hit thehaysack. See awareness/unawareness.
2. To provide with often temporary lodging. accommodate, berth, bestow, billet, board, bunk, domicile, harbor, house, lodge, put up, quarter, room. See protection/exposure.
3. To engage in sexual relations with: copulate, couple, have, mate, sleep with, take. Idioms: go to bed with, make love, make whoopee, roll in the hay. See sex/asexual.

Idioms beginning with bed:
bed and board
bed and breakfast

See also early to bed; get up on the wrong side of bed; go to bed with; make one's bed and lie in it; make the bed; put to bed; should have stood in bed; strange bedfellows.

---

For more information on bed, visit Britannica.com.

Numerous beliefs cluster round this most important piece of household furniture, but only those concerned with getting out of bed have been recorded before the mid-19th century, and by the documentary record, the others are all quite recent. The orientation of the bed is vital. A belief reported so far only from the 20th century cautions against sleeping with the foot of the bed towards the door, which is explained by the fact that coffins are carried out feet first. Placing a bed across, rather than in line with floorboards or ceiling beams was held to prevent sleep and, worse, to prolong the death of a dying person (N&Q 4s:8 (1871), 322). This is reported regularly from the mid-19th century and into the 1970s, although fitted carpets and plastered ceilings now disguise the orientation of the woodwork in the bedroom.

Making the bed is also ruled by belief. The most-quoted superstition here is that it is unlucky to turn a mattress on a Friday, or a Sunday (or both): ‘Your mistress says that her bed last night was hard and full of lumps; I'm afraid you did not turn it yesterday.’ ‘Oh no, Ma'am! Yesterday was Friday: it would turn the luck’ (N&Q 7s:4 (1887), 246). The predicted result varies from having fearful dreams, or losing your sweetheart, to illness and probable death. Again, this is only recorded from 1851 onwards, and would seem likely to have faded out as sprung mattresses became the norm. The latest version quoted by Opie and Tatem, from a Hampshire woman in 1983, maintains that ‘if you change the sheets on Friday the devil has control of your dreams for a week’. Several other strictures apply, for example if you sit on the bed of a sick person, you will be the next occupant, and three people must not take part in making a bed.

As already mentioned, getting out of bed correctly was important in earlier times: ‘Howe happily rose I on my ryghte syde to day, or blessed me well… this happye or lucky day’ (Palsgrave, Acolastus, 1540: 90, quoted by Opie and Tatem: 16), and there are numerous 17th-century literary references to the belief (see Lean). A further belief was that it is lucky to get out of bed backwards, provided it was not deliberate. The first known mention is in Congreve's Love for Love (1695) and again there are a number of literary references. Two more bed-related superstitions are included under feathers and washing.

Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.

• Opie and Tatem, 1989: 15-17
• Lean, 1903: esp. ii. 20-3

1. In masonry and bricklaying, the side of a masonry unit on which it lies in the course of the wall—the underside when placed horizontally.
2. The layer of mortar on which a masonry unit is set.
3. The lower surface or side of a slate.
4. To set a glass pane in place with putty.
5. In layered stone used for building, a surface parallel to the stratification.
6. A layer (stratum) of rock between two bedding planes.

---

[De]

In geology, this term refers to the smallest formally recognized division in a sediment or rock formation within a defined stratigraphic series. In much Palaeolithic archaeology, these geological units form the contextual units for assemblages of stone tools, faunal remains, and fossil hominid remains.

A magnetic contrivance, similar to the baquet, made use of by James Graham, eighteenth-century physician and magnetist of Edinburgh, Scotland. His entire house, which he dubbed the Temple of Hygeia and opened in 1779, was of great magnificence, especially the room with the magnetic bed. The bed itself rested on six transparent pillars; the mattresses were soaked with oriental perfumes; the bedclothes were of satin in tints of purple and sky blue. A healing stream of magnetism, as well as fragrant and strengthening medicines, were introduced into the sleeping apartment through glass tubes and cylinders. To these attractions were added the soft strains of hidden flutes, harmonicons, and a large organ. Use of this celestial couch was said to sooth shattered nerves and was allowed only to those who sent a written application to its owner and enclosed £50 sterling.

1. a supporting structure or tissue.
2. a couch or support for the body during sleep.

• b. bugs — see cimex lectularius.
• capillary b. — the capillaries of a tissue, area or organ considered collectively, and their volume capacity.
• nail b. — the area of modified epidermis beneath the claw, hoof or nail.

A distinct, isolated flower or vegetable plot, visible from all sides, usually surrounded by lawn or walks. Also called island bed.

IN BRIEF: A piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep.

Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. — Benjamin Franklin, (1706-1790), American entrepreneur, statesman, scientist and philosopher.

Quotes:

"The cool kindliness of sheets, that soon smooth away trouble; and the rough male kiss of blankets." - Rupert Brooke

"The bed is now as public as the dinner table and governed by the same rules of formal confrontation." - Angela Carter

"The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning." - Samuel Johnson

"I have thought of a pulley to raise me gradually; but that would give me pain, as it would counteract my natural inclination. I would have something that can dissipate the inertia and give elasticity to the muscles. We can heat the body, we can cool it; we can give it tension or relaxation; and surely it is possible to bring it into a state in which rising from bed will not be a pain." - Samuel Johnson

"Sleeping in a bed -- it is, apparently, of immense importance. Against those who sleep, from choice or necessity, elsewhere society feels righteously hostile. It is not done. It is disorderly, anarchical." - Rose Macaulay

"How it is I know not; but there is no place like a bed for confidential disclosures between friends. Man and wife, they say, there open the very bottom of their souls to each other; and some old couples often lie and chat over old times till nearly morning. Thus, then, in our hearts honeymoon, lay I and Queequeg -- a cozy, loving pair." - Herman Melville

See more famous quotes about Bed

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
abbr. - Bachelor of Education, færdiguddannet lærer

Français (French)
abbr. - (Univ) diplômé en sciences de l'Education

Deutsch (German)
abbr. - Bakkalaureus der Erziehungswissenschaften

Español (Spanish)
abbr. - Licenciado en Educación

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
教育学士

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
abbr. - 教育學士

한국어 (Korean)
abbr. - Bachelor of Education(교육학 학사)

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.

bed	Bed Skirts
Bed In A Bag	Loft Bed