bed

noun

• 1a piece of furniture for sleep or rest, typically a framework with a mattress:a large double bed she was in bed by nine
• a bed and associated facilities comprising a place for a patient in a hospital:the unit has 20 geriatric beds
• a bedroom: [in combination]:a three-bed detached house
• a place or article used by a person or animal for sleep or rest:a bed of straw
• informal used with reference to a bed as the typical place for sexual activity:he’s incredibly good in bed

• 2an area of ground, typically in a garden, where flowers and plants are grown:a bed of tulips

• 3a flat base or foundation on which something rests or is supported, in particular:
• the foundation of a road or railway: the pavement consists of granite blocks set on a bed of cobblestones and cement
• chiefly North American the open part of a truck, wagon, or cart, where goods are carried: the spare tyre in the forward bed of the truck
• the flat surface beneath the baize of a billiard table.

• 4a stratum or layer of rock:a bed of clay
• a layer of food on which other foods are served:the salad is served on a bed of raw spinach

• 5the bottom of the sea or a lake or river: the gravelly bed of the stream
• [with modifier] a place on the seabed where shellfish, especially oysters or mussels, breed or are bred:an oyster bed

verb (beds, bedding, bedded)

• 1provide with sleeping accommodation:the children were bedded in the attic
• [no object] (bed down) settle down to sleep or rest for the night in an improvised place:you can bed down in the shed
• (bed someone/thing down) settle a person or animal down to sleep or rest for the night: she is grooming the horses and bedding them down for the night
• informal have sexual intercourse with: he should bed a woman of his own age and leave this girl alone

• 2transfer (a plant) from a pot or seed tray to a garden plot:I bedded out some houseplants

• 3fix firmly; embed:the posts should be firmly bedded in concrete
• lay or arrange (something, especially stone) in a layer: crazy paving has to be bedded on a solid base of hard core
• [no object] (bed in) settle down and become established:a period of calm will allow the changes to bed in