Bed

Bed

n.
  1. 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.
    And made for him [a horse] a leafy bed.
    I wash, wring, brew, bake, . . . make the beds.
    In bed he slept not for my urging it.
  2. (Used as the symbol of matrimony) Marriage.
    George, the eldest son of his second bed.
  3. A plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a little raised above the adjoining ground.
  4. A mass or heap of anything arranged like a bed; as, a bed of ashes or coals.
  5. The bottom of a watercourse, or of any body of water; as, the bed of a river.
    So sinks the daystar in the ocean bed.
  6. A layer or seam, or a horizontal stratum between layers; as, a bed of coal, iron, etc. (Geol.)
  7. See Gun carriage, and Mortar bed. (Gun.)
  8. The horizontal surface of a building stone; as, the upper and lower beds. (Masonry)
  9. 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. (Mech.)
  10. The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.
  11. The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid. (Printing)

Phrases & Compounds
Bed of justice
the throne (F. lit bed) occupied by the king when sitting in one of his parliaments (judicial courts); hence, a session of a refractory parliament, at which the king was present for the purpose of causing his decrees to be registered.
To be brought to bed
to be delivered of a child; -- often followed by of; as, to be brought to bed of a son.
To make a bed
to prepare a bed; to arrange or put in order a bed and its bedding.
From bed and board
a phrase applied to a separation by partial divorce of man and wife, without dissolving the bonds of matrimony. If such a divorce (now commonly called a judicial separation) be granted at the instance of the wife, she may have alimony.

Bed

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Bedded; p. pr. & vb. n. Bedding

  1. To place in a bed. [Obs.]
  2. To make partaker of one's bed; to cohabit with.
    I'll to the Tuscan wars, and never bed her.
  3. To furnish with a bed or bedding.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
    Among all chains or clusters of mountains where large bodies of still water are bedded.
  6. To dress or prepare the surface of stone) so as to serve as a bed. (Masonry)
  7. To lay flat; to lay in order; to place in a horizontal or recumbent position.

Bed

v. i.
  1. To go to bed; to cohabit.
    If he be married, and bed with his wife.