BED (bed, bedded, bedding)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bed mean? 

• BED (noun)
  The noun BED has 8 senses:

1. a piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep

2. a plot of ground in which plants are growing

3. a depression forming the ground under a body of water

4. (geology) a stratum of rock (especially sedimentary rock)

5. a stratum of ore or coal thick enough to be mined with profit

6. single thickness of usually some homogeneous substance

7. the flat surface of a printing press on which the type form is laid in the last stage of producing a newspaper or magazine or book etc.

8. a foundation of earth or rock supporting a road or railroad track

  Familiarity information: BED used as a noun is common.

• BED (verb)
  The verb BED has 5 senses:

1. furnish with a bed

2. place (plants) in a prepared bed of soil

3. put to bed

4. have sexual intercourse with

5. prepare for sleep

  Familiarity information: BED used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BED (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

the room had only a bed and chair

Hypernyms ("bed" is a kind of...):

bedroom furniture (furniture intended for use in a bedroom)

Meronyms (parts of "bed"):

bedframe; bedstead (the framework of a bed)

mattress (a large thick pad filled with resilient material and often incorporating coiled springs, used as a bed or part of a bed)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bed"):

berth; built in bed; bunk (a bed on a ship or train; usually in tiers)

water bed (a bed with a mattress made of strong plastic that is filled with water)

twin bed (one of a pair of identical beds)

truckle; truckle bed; trundle; trundle bed (a low bed to be slid under a higher bed)

sleigh bed (a bed with solid headboard and footboard that roll outward at the top)

single bed (a bed for one occupant)

sickbed (the bed on which a sick person lies)

platform bed (a bed without springs)

plank-bed (a bed of boards (without a mattress))

Murphy bed (a bed that can be folded or swung into a cabinet when not being used)

marriage bed (the bed shared by a newly wed couple)

hammock; sack (a hanging bed of canvas or rope netting (usually suspended between two trees); swings easily)

four-poster (a bed with posts at the four corners that can be used to support a canopy or curtains)

double bed (a bed wide enough to accommodate two sleepers)

deathbed (the bed on which a person dies)

couch (a narrow bed on which a patient lies during psychiatric or psychoanalytic treatment)

camp bed; cot (a small bed that folds up for storage or transport)

bunk; bunk bed (beds built one above the other)

bunk (a rough bed (as at a campsite))

built-in bed (a bed that is built in and fixed to a wall)

Holonyms ("bed" is a part of...):

bedchamber; bedroom; chamber; sleeping accommodation; sleeping room (a room used primarily for sleeping)

Derivation:

bed (have sexual intercourse with)

bed (put to bed)

bed (furnish with a bed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A plot of ground in which plants are growing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

the gardener planted a bed of roses

Hypernyms ("bed" is a kind of...):

patch; plot; plot of ground; plot of land (a small area of ground covered by specific vegetation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bed"):

turnip bed (a bed in which turnips are growing)

seedbed (a bed where seedlings are grown before transplanting)

bed of flowers; flower bed; flowerbed (a bed in which flowers are growing)

asparagus bed (a bed in which asparagus is growing)

hotbed (a bed of earth covered with glass and heated by rotting manure to promote the growth of plants)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A depression forming the ground under a body of water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

bed; bottom

Context example:

he searched for treasure on the ocean bed

Hypernyms ("bed" is a kind of...):

depression; natural depression (a sunken or depressed geological formation)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bed"):

lake bed; lake bottom (the bottom of a lake)

Davy Jones; Davy Jones's locker; ocean bottom; ocean floor; sea bottom; sea floor; seabed (the bottom of a sea or ocean)

river bottom; riverbed (a channel occupied (or formerly occupied) by a river)

creek bed; streambed (a channel occupied (or formerly occupied) by a stream)

Sense 4

Meaning:

(geology) a stratum of rock (especially sedimentary rock)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

they found a bed of sandstone

Hypernyms ("bed" is a kind of...):

stratum (one of several parallel layers of material arranged one on top of another (such as a layer of tissue or cells in an organism or a layer of sedimentary rock))

Domain category:

geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bed"):

ore bed (a stratum of ore)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A stratum of ore or coal thick enough to be mined with profit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

bed; seam

Context example:

he worked in the coal beds

Hypernyms ("bed" is a kind of...):

stratum (one of several parallel layers of material arranged one on top of another (such as a layer of tissue or cells in an organism or a layer of sedimentary rock))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bed"):

coal seam (a seam of coal)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Single thickness of usually some homogeneous substance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bed; layer

Context example:

slices of hard-boiled egg on a bed of spinach

Hypernyms ("bed" is a kind of...):

artefact; artifact (a man-made object taken as a whole)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bed"):

overlay (a layer of decorative material (such as gold leaf or wood veneer) applied over a surface)

wall (a layer of material that encloses space)

tier (one of two or more layers one atop another)

ply ((usually in combinations) one of several layers of cloth or paper or wood as in plywood)

lift (one of the layers forming the heel of a shoe or boot)

interlayer (a layer placed between other layers)

cushion (the layer of air that supports a hovercraft or similar vehicle)

course; row ((construction) a layer of masonry)

blanket (a layer of lead surrounding the highly reactive core of a nuclear reactor)

backing; mount (something forming a back that is added for strengthening)

Holonyms ("bed" is a part of...):

laminate (a sheet of material made by bonding two or more sheets or layers)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The flat surface of a printing press on which the type form is laid in the last stage of producing a newspaper or magazine or book etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("bed" is a kind of...):

surface (the outer boundary of an artifact or a material layer constituting or resembling such a boundary)

Holonyms ("bed" is a part of...):

press; printing press (a machine used for printing)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A foundation of earth or rock supporting a road or railroad track

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

the track bed had washed away

Hypernyms ("bed" is a kind of...):

base; foot; foundation; fundament; groundwork; substructure; understructure (lowest support of a structure)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bed"):

railroad bed (a bed on which railroad track is laid)

roadbed (a bed supporting a road)

• BED (verb)

Conjugation:

Sense 1

Meaning:

Furnish with a bed

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Context example:

The inn keeper could bed all the new arrivals

Hypernyms (to "bed" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bed"):

bunk (provide with a bunk)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

bed (a piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Place (plants) in a prepared bed of soil

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bed" is one way to...):

plant; set (put or set (seeds, seedlings, or plants) into the ground)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Put to bed

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The children were bedded at ten o'clock

Hypernyms (to "bed" is one way to...):

lay; place; pose; position; put; set (put into a certain place or abstract location)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

bed (a piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Have sexual intercourse with

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

bang; be intimate; bed; bonk; do it; eff; fuck; get it on; get laid; have a go at it; have intercourse; have it away; have it off; have sex; hump; jazz; know; lie with; love; make love; make out; roll in the hay; screw; sleep together; sleep with

Context example:

Were you ever intimate with this man?

Hypernyms (to "bed" is one way to...):

copulate; couple; mate; pair (engage in sexual intercourse)

Verb group:

make out; neck (kiss, embrace, or fondle with sexual passion)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bed"):

have; take (have sex with; archaic use)

fornicate (have sex without being married)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

bed (a piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Prepare for sleep

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

bed; crawl in; go to bed; go to sleep; hit the hay; hit the sack; kip down; retire; sack out; turn in

Context example:

He goes to bed at the crack of dawn

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bed"):

bed down; bunk down (go to bed)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

Then he surrendered, and, scarcely conscious of what he did, got off his clothes and into bed.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The country around appeared like a continued garden, and the enclosed fields, which were generally forty feet square, resembled so many beds of flowers.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

You can imagine the state of things here when they were roused from their beds by the doctor’s ringing and found me in this condition.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Her friends were sorry, but could do nothing to help her; so Dorothy went to her own room and lay down on the bed and cried herself to sleep.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

He was well entertained, and in the evening was taken to the chamber next to the one where the princesses lay in their twelve beds.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

The lady could not move her bed.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The drop was at least twenty feet, however, and a bed of crocuses in full bloom lay beneath.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I am lean, like a starved cat, and I am glad of my bed at night, and in the morning am I greatly weary.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

That servant, I found upon inquiry, was so ill that she had gone to her bed.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But I must away to lay down the beds.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)