Talk:bedpost
Latest comment: 2 years ago by Kiwima in topic RFV discussion: November–December 2021
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Rfv-sense: A post or pin on each side of the bed to keep the bedclothes from falling off; a bedstaff. Notusbutthem (talk) 20:11, 27 November 2021 (UTC)
- I found a couple of quotes that might have this meaning, but it is impossible to tell unambiguously. Kiwima (talk) 20:51, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
- What is the source of this definition, I wonder? The OED has bedpost defined only as "A post of a bed, one of the upright supports of the frame-work of a bed. The twinkling of a bedpost: cf. BEDSTAFF", where bedstaff is defined as "A staff or stick used in some way about a bed. Formerly well-known as a ready weapon: hence, probably the phrase in the twinkling of a bedstaff: cf 'the twinkling of an eye'. a. Dr. Johnson explains it [bedstaff, not bedpost!] as: 'A wooden pin stuck anciently on sides of the bed-stead to hold the clothes from slipping on either way.' (For this, no authority is given, and no corroborative evidence has been found.)" Looking through the results at google books:bedpost bedstaff, which include old slang dictionaries, suggests this sense is mere conjecture extrapolated from the single phrase "twinkling of a bedpost", based on people hearing that phrase, knowing it was formerly "twinkling of a bedstaff", deducing what a bedstaff might have been, and then further conjecturing that "bedpost" must have the same meaning. - -sche (discuss) 19:59, 22 December 2021 (UTC)
RFV-failed Kiwima (talk) 20:51, 27 December 2021 (UTC)