bed

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: B.Ed., BED, běd, and beð

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

A bed (furniture)

From Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd (“bed, couch, resting-place; garden-bed, plot”), from Proto-Germanic *badją (“plot, grave, resting-place, bed”), perhaps (if originally "dug sleeping-place") from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”). Cognate with Scots bed, bede (“bed”), North Frisian baad, beed (“bed”), West Frisian bêd (“bed”), Low German Bedd, Dutch bed (“bed”), German Bett (“bed”), Danish bed, Swedish bädd (“bed”), Icelandic beður (“bed”), and (through Proto-Indo-European, if the above etymology is correct) with Ancient Greek βοθυρος (bothuros, “pit”), Latin fossa (“ditch”), Latvian bedre (“hole”), Welsh bedd (“grave”), Breton bez (“grave”); and probably also Russian бодать (bodatʹ, “to butt, to gore”).

The traditional etymology as a derivation from the Proto-Indo-European verb for 'to dig' has been doubted, arguing that there are (allegedly) few, if any, cultures known to dig out beds, rather than to build "pads". However, what the Germanic word originally referred to is not known with precision, and it notably has the additional meaning "flower-bed, plot", which is preserved in English and several other modern Germanic languages, but present in older stages as well. Additionally, the term may have originally been used in the sense of a "burial plot" for laying those who were asleep in death, and from there extended also to symbolise a place where one slept in general (In Modern German, two separate words exist, Bett being the normal term, the rare variant Beet having been adopted for “flower-bed”). Perhaps the word originally referred to dug sleeping-places of animals, compare (with the inverse semantic development) lair from Old English leġer (“couch, bed”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

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.
    • 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, OCLC 519072825, page 202:
      At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […].
    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.
      • 1903, Thomas Stretch Dowse, Lectures on Massage and Electricity in the Treatment of Disease, page 276:
        I am quite sure that too much bed, if not too much sleep, is prejudicial, though a certain amount is absolutely necessary.
      • 1907, Jabez Spencer Balfour, My Prison Life, page 181:
        Some prisoners, indeed, are always up before the bell rings — such was my practice — they prefer to grope about in the dark to tossing about in the utter weariness of too much bed.
      • 1972, James Verney Cable, Principles of Medicine: An Integrated Textbook for Nurses:
        This condition is one of the dangers of "too much bed". The nurse should inspect the legs of each patient daily
    6. (figurative) Marriage.
    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 16thc.]
      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, [1]
        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, 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.
      Synonym: 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.
      (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)
    5. (masonry) A course of stone or brick in a wall.

Usage notes[edit]

Sense 1. To prepare a bed is usually to "make" the bed, or (US, Southern) to "spread" the bed, the verb spread probably having been developed from bedspread. Like many nouns denoting places where people spend time, bed requires no article after certain prepositions: hence in bed (“lying in a bed”), go to bed (“get into a bed”), and so on. The forms in a bed, etc. do exist, but tend to imply mere presence in the bed, without it being for the purpose of sleep.

See also Appendix:Collocations of do, have, make, and take

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • Chichewa: bedi
  • Chuukese: pet
  • Japanese: ベッド (beddo)

Translations[edit]

See bed/translations § Noun.

Verb[edit]

bed (third-person singular simple present 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. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
    2. (transitive) To place in a bed.
      (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
    3. To put oneself to sleep. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
    4. (transitive) To furnish with a bed or bedding.
    5. (transitive, intransitive) To have sexual intercourse with. [from early 14th c.]
      Synonyms: coitize, go to bed with, sleep with; see also 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.
      • 1810/1835, William Wordsworth, Guide to the Lakes
        Among all chains or clusters of mountains where large bodies of still water are bedded.
      • 2014 August 17, Jeff Howell, “Home improvements: Repairing and replacing floorboards [print version: Never buy anything from a salesman, 16 August 2014, p. P7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Property)‎[2]:
        But I must warn you that chipboard floors are always likely to squeak. The material is still being used in new-builds, but developers now use adhesive to bed and joint it, rather than screws or nails. I suspect the adhesive will eventually embrittle and crack, resulting in the same squeaking problems as before.
    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.
    6. To settle, as machinery.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

See bed/translations § Verb.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Afrikaans[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Dutch bed, from Middle Dutch bedde, from Old Dutch bedde, from Proto-Germanic *badją.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bed (plural beddens, diminutive bedjie)

  1. bed
    Synonym: kooi

Breton[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Brythonic *bɨd, from Proto-Celtic *bitus.

Noun[edit]

bed m (plural bedoù)

  1. world

Inflection[edit]

  Mutation of bed  
Breton consonant mutation
unmutated soft aspirate hard
singular bed ved unchanged ped
plural bedoù vedoù unchanged pedoù

Danish[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From German Beet (“bed for plants”), originally the same word as Bett (“bed for sleeping”), from Proto-Germanic *badją, cognate with English bed and Swedish bädd.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bed n (singular definite bedet, plural indefinite bede)

  1. bed (a garden plot)
Inflection[edit]
Declension of bed
neuter
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative bed bedet bede bedene
genitive beds bedets bedes bedenes

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old Norse beit f (“pasturage”), Old Norse beita f (“bait”), from Proto-Germanic *baitō (“food, bait”), cognate with German Beize (“mordant”) (whence Danish bejdse).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [ˈb̥eˀð], [ˈb̥eðˀ]

Noun[edit]

bed (definitive plural bedene)

  1. (obsolete) pasturage
    only in the expression: gå nogen i bedene "poach on someone's preserves"

Etymology 3[edit]

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [ˈb̥eˀð], [ˈb̥eðˀ]

Verb[edit]

bed

  1. past tense of bide

Etymology 4[edit]

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): [ˈb̥eˀ], (solemnly) IPA(key): [ˈb̥eˀð], [ˈb̥eðˀ]

Verb[edit]

bed

  1. imperative of bede

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle Dutch bedde, from Old Dutch bedde, from Proto-Germanic *badją.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bed n (plural bedden, diminutive bedje n)

  1. bed (furniture for sleeping)
  2. (garden, agriculture) patch, bed
  3. layer, often a substratum
  4. bed of a body of water
    • 1950, Willy van der Heide, Drie jongens op een onbewoond eiland, Stenvert.
      Op een gegeven ogenblik stieten ze op een uitgedroogde beekbedding; het bed van de beek was naakte lava.

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

Kriol[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From English bird.

Noun[edit]

bed

  1. bird

Etymology 2[edit]

From English bed.

Noun[edit]

bed

  1. bed

Northern Kurdish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Adjective[edit]

bed

  1. bad

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From German Beet

Noun[edit]

bed n (definite singular bedet, indefinite plural bed, definite plural beda or bedene)

  1. (horticulture) a bed (for plants)
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Verb[edit]

bed

  1. imperative of bede

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From German Beet

Noun[edit]

bed n (definite singular bedet, indefinite plural bed, definite plural beda)

  1. (horticulture) a bed (for plants)
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Verb[edit]

bed

  1. present of bede
  2. imperative of bede

References[edit]

Old English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bed n

  1. Alternative form of bedd

Old Irish[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb[edit]

·bed

  1. third-person singular past subjunctive of at·tá
Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb[edit]

bed

  1. inflection of is:
    1. third-person singular past subjunctive
    2. third-person singular/second-person plural imperative
    3. third-person singular conditional relative
Alternative forms[edit]
  • bad (3 sg. past subj.; 3 sg. and 2 pl. imperative)

Old Saxon[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *badją (“dug sleeping-place”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”). Cognate with Old Frisian bed, Old English bedd, Dutch bed, Old High German betti, Old Norse beðr, Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌳𐌹 (badi). The Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek βοθυρος (bothuros, “pit”), Latin fossa (“ditch”), Latvian bedre (“hole”), Welsh bedd, Breton bez (“grave”).

Noun[edit]

bed n

  1. bed
    • thena lefna lamon bārun mid is beddiu
      They were bearing the living lame man with his bed
      (Heliand, verse 2309)

Declension[edit]

Declension of bed (neuter a-stem)
singular plural
nominative bed bed
accusative bed bed
genitive beddes beddō
dative bedde beddum
instrumental — —


Descendants[edit]

Swedish[edit]

Verb[edit]

bed (contracted be)

  1. imperative of bedja.

Volapük[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English bed and German Bett.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bed (nominative plural beds)

  1. bed

Declension[edit]

declension of bed
singular plural
nominative bed beds
genitive beda bedas
dative bede bedes
accusative bedi bedis
vocative 1 o bed! o beds!
predicative 2 bedu bedus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=bed&oldid=61209245"