Word Definition

Bed

  1. To lay flat; to lay in order; to place in a horizontal or recumbent position.
  2. The bottom of a watercourse, or of any body of water; as, the bed of a river.
  3. The foundation or the more solid and fixed part or framing of a machine; or a part on which something is laid or supported; as, the bed of an engine.
  4. To place in a bed.
  5. A mass or heap of anything arranged like a bed; as, a bed of ashes or coals.
  6. To lay or put in any hollow place, or place of rest and security, surrounded or inclosed; to embed; to furnish with or place upon a bed or foundation; as, to bed a stone; it was bedded on a rock.
  7. To furnish with a bed or bedding.
  8. The place or material in which a block or brick is laid.
  9. (Used as the symbol of matrimony) Marriage.
  10. A plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a little raised above the adjoining ground.
  11. The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.
  12. To make partaker of one's bed; to cohabit with.
  13. The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.
  14. The horizontal surface of a building stone; as, the upper and lower beds.
  15. A course of stone or brick in a wall.
  16. To go to bed; to cohabit.
  17. To dress or prepare the surface of stone) so as to serve as a bed.
  18. The lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile.
  19. To plant or arrange in beds; to set, or cover, as in a bed of soft earth; as, to bed the roots of a plant in mold.
  20. An article of furniture to sleep or take rest in or on; a couch. Specifically: A sack or mattress, filled with some soft material, in distinction from the bedstead on which it is placed (as, a feather bed), or this with the bedclothes added. In a general sense, any thing or place used for sleeping or reclining on or in, as a quantity of hay, straw, leaves, or twigs.
  21. A layer or seam, or a horizontal stratum between layers; as, a bed of coal, iron, etc.