bed

See also: Appendix:Variations of "bed"

English

Etymology

A bed (furniture)

From Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją (“resting-place, plot of ground”).

cognates

Cognate with North Frisian baad, beed, Saterland Frisian Bääd, West Frisian bêd, Low German Bedd, Dutch bed, German Bett, Swedish bädd, Icelandic beður, all meaning “bed”.

further possible etymology and cognates

The Proto-Germanic term may in turn be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”) with various theories explaining the development in meaning. If it is, the term is also cognate 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, gore”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /bɛd/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

• (African-American Vernacular, some speakers) IPA^(key): [beː]
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /bed/
• Rhymes: -ɛd

Noun

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, 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.
      • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

        George, the eldest son of his second bed.

   7. (figurative, uncountable) Sexual activity.

      Too much bed, not enough rest.

   8. Clipping of bedroom.

      2 beds, 1 bath

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 16^thc.]

      sea bed

      river 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, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck‎^[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, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168:

        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.
   7. The platform of a truck, trailer, wagon, railcar, or other vehicle that supports the load to be hauled.

      Synonym: tray

      Hyponym: truckbed

      The parcels were loaded onto the truck bed before transportation.

   8. A shaped piece of timber to hold a cask clear of a ship’s floor; a pallet.
   9. (printing, dated) The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.
   10. (computing) The flat surface of a scanner on which a document is placed to be scanned.
   11. A piece of music, normally instrumental, over which a radio DJ talks.
   12. (darts) Any of the sections of a dartboard with a point value, delimited by a wire.
   13. (trampoline) The taut surface of a trampoline.
       • 2000, Sports: The Complete Visual Reference‎^[2]:

         These 5 judges mark the athlete's staying in the center of the bed, uniformity of bounce heights, and general style.

3. (heading) A horizontal 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.
   5. (masonry) A course of stone or brick in a wall.

Usage notes

To prepare a bed (in the sense of sleeping furniture) is usually to make the bed, or (Southern US) 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

• abed
• air bed (airbed)
• alveolar bed
• angel bed
• ant-bed
• apple-pie bed
• arrester bed
• bark bed
• bed and board
• bed and breakfast / bed-and-breakfast → B&B-ing, B&B deal, B&B transaction
• bed bath (bed-bath)
• bed blocker (bedblocker / bed-blocker)
• bed blocking
• bedboard
• bedbound
• bedbox
• bed-breaking
• bedbug (bed bug)
• bedchair
• bedchamber
• bed check (bed-check)
• bed-closet
• bedclothes
• bedclothing
• bedcord
• bedcover (bed cover / bed-cover)
• bedcovering
• bedcurtain
• beddable
• bedder
• bedding
• beddy
• bedfast (bed-fast)
• bedfellow
• bedform
• bedframe (bed frame / bed-frame)
• bedful
• bedgown
• bedground (bed ground)
• bed hair
• bedhanging
• bedhead
• bed head → bed-headed
• bed-hop → bed-hopper
• bed in, bed-in
• beditation
• bedjacket (bed jacket / bed-jacket)
• bedkey
• bedknob
• bedless
• bedlight
• bedlike
• bedlinen
• bed linen
• bedliner
• bedload (bed load)
• bedlock
• bedmaker
• bedmaking
• bedmate
• bed-mould, bed moulding
• bednet
• bed of down
• bed of honour
• bed of justice
• bed of nails
• bed of roses
• bed out
• bed pad
• bedpan
• bedpartner
• bedpiece
• bedplate
• bedpost
• bed push
• bedquilt
• bedrail
• bedrel
• bed rest
• bedrest
• bedridden (bed-ridden)
• bedrite
• bedrobe
• bedrock
• bedroll
• bedroom (bed-room) → bedsit, bed-sitter / bedsitter, bed-sitting room
• bed rot
• bed rotting
• bed screw
• bedset
• bed settee
• bedshare
• bedsheet (bed sheet)
• bedside
• bedsite
• bedskirt
• bedsock
• bedsore
• bedspace
• bed spacing
• bedspread
• bedspring
• bedstaff
• bedstand
• bedstead
• bedstock
• bedstone
• bedstraw
• bed surf → bed surfer
• bedswerver
• bedtable
• bed tea (bed-tea)
• bedtick
• bedtop
• bed trick
• bed truck
• bed urinal
• bedward
• bedwards
• bedwarmer
• bedwear
• bed wench
• bedwetter
• bedwetting
• bed-wettingly
• bed-wet → bed-wetter (bed wetter), bed-wetting
• bedwise
• bedwork
• bedworthy
• biobed
• bonebed
• box-bed, box bed (boxbed)
• breakfast in bed
• bridebed
• bring to bed
• bunk bed
• cabin bed
• camp bed
• canopy bed
• capillary bed
• chair bed
• childbed
• child bed
• child-bed
• clawbed
• claybed
• coal bed
• co-bed
• come to bed / come-to-bed
• creek bed
• creekbed
• cryobed
• day bed
• daybed
• deathbed conversion (death bed c. / death-bed c.)
• deathbed (death bed / death-bed)
• dirt bed
• divan bed
• divorce from bed and board
• dog bed
• double bed
• featherbed (feather bed / feather-bed)
• field bed
• filter bed
• flatbed
• flower-bed
• flowerbed (flower bed)
• fluidized bed
• footbed
• four-poster bed
• French bed
• full bed
• Gatch bed
• gatch bed
• get out of bed on the wrong side
• get up on the wrong side of the bed (…of bed)
• go to bed → go to bed with, …with the chickens, …with the sun
• green-bed
• hay bed
• hide-a-bed
• hog bed
• Hollywood bed
• hospital bed
• hot bed, hotbed
• in bed → in bed with
• interbed
• interbedded
• in the bed
• Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon
• John-go-to-bed-at-noon
• kelp bed
• key bed
• keybed
• kick someone out of bed
• lakebed
• lazy bed, lazy-bed
• lesbian bed death
• lie in the bed one has made
• loft bed
• make one's bed → …and lie in it
• make the bed
• marker bed
• marriage bed
• monster under the bed
• multibed
• Murphy bed
• nailbed (nail bed)
• nettlebed
• oceanbed
• orthopaedic bed
• orthopedic bed
• out of bed
• overbed
• oyster bed
• pebble-bed reactor
• pencil-post bed
• pie bed
• pig bed
• pissabed, piss-the-bed, pissy bed (pissy-bed)
• plank bed
• platform bed (see platform)
• Polish bed
• powder-bed
• procrustean bed
• Procrustean bed
• put to bed
• put to bed with a shovel
• railbed
• raised bed
• rebed
• redbed
• red under the bed
• reed bed
• riverbed (river bed / river-bed)
• roadbed
• roller bed
• rosebed
• sandbed
• scanbed
• sea bed
• seabed
• seedbed
• settee bed
• settle bed
• share a bed
• shell bed
• shit the bed
• sickbed
• single bed
• sleigh bed
• slug-a-bed
• sofa-bed (sofa bed)
• spawning bed
• spring bed
• stakebed
• strawbed
• straw-bed (straw bed)
• streambed
• stream bed
• stringbed
• sunbed
• surbed
• take to one's bed
• tan bed
• tanning bed
• tent bed
• test bed
• testbed
• throw someone out of bed
• too much bed makes a dull head
• trackbed (track bed)
• trestle bed
• truckle bed
• trundle bed
• twin bed
• unbed
• underbed
• vac bed
• vacuum bed
• wake up on the wrong side of the bed (…of bed)
• waterbed (water bed / water-bed)
• wet the bed
• you make the bed you lie in

 

Descendants

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

Translations

See bed/translations § Noun.

Verb

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; to put oneself to sleep.

      I usually listen to music before I bed.

   2. (transitive) To place in a bed.
      • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

        For she was not only publicly contracted, but stated as a bride, and solemnly bedded, and after she was laid, there came in Maximilian's ambassador with letters of procuration

   3. (transitive) To furnish with a bed or bedding.
   4. (transitive, intransitive) To have sex (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, […]

   5. (intransitive, hunting) Of large game animals: to be at rest.
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)‎^[3]:

        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.
      • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:

        Your bedded hair like life in excrements

   6. To settle, as machinery.

Derived terms

• bed down
• embed

Translations

See bed/translations § Verb.

Further reading

• bed on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• BDE, DBE, DEB, Deb, Deb., EBD, Edb., deb

Afrikaans

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

bed (plural beddens, diminutive bedjie)

1. bed

   Synonym: kooi

Australian Kriol

Etymology 1

From English bird.

Noun

bed

1. bird

Etymology 2

From English bed.

Noun

bed

1. bed

Breton

Alternative forms

• béd (Skolveurieg)

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *bɨd, from Proto-Celtic *bitus. Cognates include Welsh byd and Cornish bys.

Noun

bed m (plural bedoù)

1. world
2. universe

Mutation

Mutation of bed

	unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard
singular	bed	ved	unchanged	ped
plural	bedoù	vedoù	unchanged	pedoù

References

• Ian Press (1986) A grammar of modern Breton, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 322

Danish

Etymology 1

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

• IPA^(key): [ˈb̥eð]

Noun

bed n (singular definite bedet, plural indefinite bede)

1. bed (a garden plot)

Inflection

Declension of bed

neuter gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	bed	bedet	bede	bedene
genitive	beds	bedets	bedes	bedenes

Etymology 2

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

• IPA^(key): [ˈb̥eˀð], [ˈb̥eðˀ]

Noun

bed (definitive plural bedene)

1. (obsolete) pasturage

   only in the expression: gå nogen i bedene "poach on someone's preserves"

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈb̥eˀð], [ˈb̥eðˀ]

Verb

bed

1. past of bide

Etymology 4

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

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

Verb

bed

1. imperative of bede

Dutch

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bed
• Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

bed n (plural bedden, diminutive bedje n)

1. bed (furniture for sleeping)

   Ze kocht een nieuw bed voor haar nieuwe appartement. ― She bought a new bed for her new apartment.

   Ik wil vroeg naar bed gaan vanavond. ― I want to go to bed early tonight.

   Dit bed is zo comfortabel dat ik er de hele dag in zou kunnen blijven. ― This bed is so comfortable, I could stay in it all day.

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.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• beddengoed
• bedgenoot
• bedkamer
• bedlamp
• bedleger
• bedplassen
• bedstee
• bedtijd
• bedvriend
• bedvriendin
• bedwants
• bloembed
• dekbed
• doodsbed
• eenpersoonsbed
• hemelbed
• inbedden
• kampbed
• ligbed
• luchtbed
• plantenbed
• rivierbed
• rozenbed
• spijkerbed
• stapelbed
• stroombed
• tweepersoonsbed
• verbedden
• waterbed
• zeebed
• ziekenhuisbed

 

Descendants

• Afrikaans: bed
• Berbice Creole Dutch: bedi
• Negerhollands: bet, bedi, bere, bedde
  • → Virgin Islands Creole: bedi (archaic)
• Skepi Creole Dutch: bede
• → Caribbean Javanese: bèt
• →? Mohegan-Pequot: beed
• → Papiamentu: bèt, bèchi, bèrchi, bed
• → Saramaccan: bédi
• →? Sranan Tongo: bedi
  • → Caribbean Hindustani: bedi
  • → Caribbean Javanese: bèḍi
  • → Kari'na: bedi

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English bedd.

Noun

bed

1. bed

Descendants

• English: bed
• Scots: bed

Etymology 2

Noun

bed

1. Alternative form of bede

Northern Kurdish

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛd

Adjective

bed

1. bad

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /beːd/

Etymology 1

From Danish bed, from German Beet.

Noun

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

1. (horticulture) a bed (for plants)

Derived terms

• blomsterbed

Etymology 2

Verb

bed

1. imperative of bede

References

• “bed” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From German Beet.

Noun

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

1. (horticulture) a bed (for plants)

Derived terms

• blomsterbed

Etymology 2

Verb

bed

1. present tense of beda
2. imperative of beda

Etymology 3

From Old Norse beðr.

Noun

bed m (definite singular beden, indefinite plural bedar, definite plural bedane)

1. (pre-2012) alternative form of bedd

References

• “bed” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bed/

Noun

bed n

1. Alternative form of bedd

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bʲeð/

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

·bed

1. third-person singular past subjunctive of at·tá

Alternative forms

• ·beth

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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

• bad (3 sg. past subj.; 3 sg. and 2 pl. imperative)

Mutation

Mutation of bed

radical	lenition	nasalization
bed	bed pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/	mbed

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

• bedd, beddi

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *badi, 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

bed n

1. bed
   • (Can we date this quote?), Heliand, verse 2309:

     thena lefna lamon bārun mid is beddiu

     They were bearing the living lame man with his bed

Declension

Declension of bed (neuter a-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	bed	bed
accusative	bed	bed
genitive	beddes	beddō
dative	bedde	beddum
instrumental	—	—

Descendants

• Middle Low German: bedde
  • Low German: Bett
    • Dutch Low Saxon: bedde
    • German Low German: Bedd
      • Plautdietsch: Bad, Bed
  • → Icelandic: beddi

Swedish

Verb

bed (contracted be)

1. imperative of bedja

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowed from English bed and German Bett.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bed/

Noun

bed (nominative plural beds)

1. bed

Declension

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