mattress
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English materas, from Old French, from Arabic مَطْرَح (maṭraḥ, “place where something is thrown”), from طَرَحَ (ṭaraḥa, “to throw”). Compare divan, from Persian via Turkish.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmætɹɪs/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun[edit]
mattress (plural mattresses)
- A pad on which a person can recline and sleep, usually having an inner section of coiled springs covered with foam or other cushioning material then enclosed with cloth fabric.
- A form of retaining wall used to support foundations or an embankment
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
a pad on which a person can recline and sleep
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engineering: a flat structure of brushwood or similar material used to provide a foundation for a structure including embankments
See also[edit]
Verb[edit]
mattress (third-person singular simple present mattresses, present participle mattressing, simple past and past participle mattressed)
- (transitive) To cover with a thick layer, like a mattress; to blanket.
- 1997, Andrew R. M. Patterson, A planet through a field of stars (page 123)
- A comfortable litter of pine needles had mattressed the ground and spreading branches had been a canopy overhead.
- 1997, Andrew R. M. Patterson, A planet through a field of stars (page 123)