Bed sb.

Forms: (1–2 bed(d), 3 bæd, 3–6 bedd, 5–7 bedde, (4 bidd, 3–7 bede, 6 beed), 3– bed. [Com. Teut.: OE. będd, będ, neut., OS. bed, MDu. bedde, bed, bet, Du. bed, OHG. betti, MHG. bette, bet, mod.G. bett, Goth. badi (gen. badjis):—OTeut. *badjo-(m) neut.; cf. ON. beðr, masc.:—OTeut. *badjo-z. Referred by Franck with some probability to Aryan *bhodh-, whence L. fod(i- to dig, as if orig. ‘a dug out place,’ a ‘lair’ of beasts or men: but this primitive notion had quite disappeared in Teutonic, in which the word had only the two senses ‘sleeping-place of men’ and ‘garden-bed’: it is uncertain whether the latter came independently from the root idea of ‘dig,’ or whether it was a transference from a bed for sleeping, with reference to its shape or purpose.]

  I.  The sleeping-place of men or animals.

  1.  A permanent structure or arrangement for sleeping on, or for the sake of rest. In some form or other it constitutes a regular article of household furniture in civilized life, as well as part of the equipment of an army or expedition. It consists for the most part of a sack or mattress of sufficient size, stuffed with something soft or springy, raised generally upon a ‘bed-stead’ or support, and covered with sheets, blankets, etc., for the purpose of warmth. The name is given both to the whole structure in its most elaborate form, and, as in ‘feather-bed,’ to the stuffed sack or mattress which constitutes its essential part. (A person is said to be in bed, when undressed and covered with the bedclothes.)

c. 995.  Will, in Cod. Dipl., VI. 132. Án bedreaf eal ðæt tó ánum bedde gebyreð.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., John v. 8. Aris: nim þin bed [c. 1160 Hatton G. bedd] and ga.

c. 1205.  Lay., 6701. Þe king læi in his bædde [1250 bedde].

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 12392. He suld him mak a treen bedd [Fairf. MS. a bed of tree].

c. 1300.  St. Brandan, 125. Beddes ther were al ȝare y-maked.

1382.  Wyclif, Mark ii. 9. Ryse, take thi bed and walke.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, XXIX. 11933. Buernes in hor bednes britnet all naked.

1424.  E. E. Wills (1882), 57. I wul þat ilk of my said childre haue a bed, þat is to say, couerlide, tapite, blankettis, too peyre schetes, matras, and canvas.

1480.  Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxlii. 277. He was in his bed and a slepe on a fethyr bedde.

1562.  J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 16. In house to kepe housholde, whan folks wyll needis wed, Mo thyngs belong, than foure bare legs in a bed.

1611.  Bible, 1 Sam. xix. 15. Bring him vp to me in the bedde.

1648.  Jenkyn, Blind Guide, iv. 115. Sollid matter lodgeth in his great booke of words, as a childe of two days old in the great bed of Ware.

1716.  Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xv. 51. I carried my own bed with me.

1761.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, II. xxix. 142. An old … chair … stood at the bed’s head.

1851.  Tennyson, May Queen, iii. 23. Sit beside my bed, mother.

  b.  Often used somewhat elliptically for the use of a bed for the night, the condition or position of being in bed, sleeping in bed, the time for sleeping, etc. Cf. also the phrases under 6.

1474.  Ord. R. Househ., 28. Make him joyouse and merry towardes his bedde.

1666.  Pepys, Diary, 12 Aug. We began both to be angry, and so continued till bed.

1769.  Wesley, Jrnl., 19 April. Archdeacon C——e … desired I would take a bed with him.

1845.  Ford, Handbk. Spain, § 1. 20. The traveller should immediately on arriving secure his bed.

1874.  Blackie, Self-Cult., 50. Let a man walk for an hour before bed.

1879.  M. Pattison, Milton, 151. Bed, with its warmth and recumbent posture, he found favourable to composition.

  c.  Bed and board: entertainment with lodging and food. Of a wife: full connubial relations, as wife and mistress of the household.

c. 1403.  York Manual (1881), Pref. 16. Here I take þe N. to be my wedded wyfe, to hald and to haue at bed and at borde, for fayrer for layther, for better for wers … till ded us depart.

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., III. x. 51. She [should be] receivd againe to bed and bord.

1756.  C. Lucas, Ess. Waters, III. 17. There is no city … better supplied for dress, carriage, bed and board.

1823.  Galt, Entail, II. xv. 135. What … was due for bed and board.

1868.  Browning, Ring & Bk., II. 1287. Pompilia sought divorce from bed and board.

  d.  fig. The ‘sleeping-place’ attributed to things personified; that on which persons figuratively ‘repose.’

a. 1600.  in 1001 Gems of Song (1883), 3.

1817.  Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. IV. viii. 285. The treaty with Hyder was the bed on which the resentments of the Directors sought to repose.

1861.  Geo. Eliot, Silas M., 74. The money … ’ull be a bad bed to lie down on at the last.

  2.  transf. a. As the place of conjugal union; hence matrimonial rights and duties.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 2447. Hu … Þatt I maȝȝ ben wiþþ childe I min maȝȝþhad, i clene bedd.

c. 1305.  St. Edmund Conf., 106, in E. E. P. (1862), 73. Hire cloþes he dude of anon: as hit is lawe of bedde.

1382.  Wyclif, Gen. xlix. 4. Thow has defoulid the bedde of hym.

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., III. iv. 42. False to his Bed?

1611.  Bible, Hebr. xiii. 4. Mariage is honorable in all, and the bed vndefiled.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Eclog., IV. 78. No God shall crown the Board, nor Goddess bless the Bed.

1711.  Steele, Spect., No. 51, ¶ 7. He betrays the Honour and Bed of his Neighbour.

  b.  As the place of procreation and child-birth; hence parental union, parentage; also birth, progeny.

c. 1430.  Lydg., Bochas, II. xxii. (1554), 58 a. Socrates … Of ful lowe bed … was discended.

a. 1674.  Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. I. 9. George, the eldest son of this second bed.

1807.  Crabbe, Par. Reg., I. 485. And hoped, when wed, For loves fair favours, and a fruitful bed.

1832.  Sir E. Brydges, Geneva, III. 104. A younger brother … One of a numerous bed.

  3.  gen. A sleeping-place generally; any extemporized resting place for the night.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 902. In cald sal euer be þi bedde.

c. 1440.  Gesta Rom., i. 4. Encresing of his peyne in þe bed of hell.

1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., II. ii. 39. Finde you out a bed, For I vpon this banke will rest my head. Ibid. (1598), Merry W., III. i. 20. There will we make our Beds of Roses.

1877.  Bryant, Odyss., V. 579. Ulysses heaped a bed Of leaves.

  4.  fig. The grave: usually with some qualification, as narrow bed, or contextual indication.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6962. Iosep banis … þai haue graued in erþe bed.

1535.  Coverdale, Job xvii. 13. The graue is my house, and I must make my bed in the darcke [Wyclif In dercnessis I beddede my bed].

1611.  Shaks., Cymb., IV. iv. 52. If in your Country warres you chance to dye, That is my Bed to.

1793.  Burns, Scots wha hae. Welcome to your gory bed, Or to victorie.

1817.  Wolfe, Burial Sir J. Moore, v. 1. As we hollowed his narrow bed.

  5.  The resting-place of an animal, esp. one strewed or made up for a domestic beast.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 813. The Water-Snake … lyes poyson’d in his Bed.

1726.  Thomson, Winter, 831. He makes his bed beneath th’ inclement drift.

1831.  Youatt, Horse, vi. (1872), 126. The bed of the horse, viz. wheat and oat straw.

1853.  ‘Stonehenge,’ Greyhound, 242. Clean straw … for her [a greyhound] to make her bed on.

  6.  Phrases and locutions belonging to prec. senses:

  a.  Qualified by an adj. or attributive sb., as bridal bed, nuptial bed, the bed in which a newly married pair sleep; narrow bed, the grave; wedlock bed = MARRIAGE-BED, q.v.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IV. 710. With flow’rs … Espoused Eve deck’d first her nuptial bed.

1796.  Scott, William & Helen, xli. To-night I ride, with my young bride, To deck our bridal bed. Ibid. (1819), Noble Moringer, i. In wedlock bed he lay.

1854.  Househ. Words, VIII. 427/2. For, there is another bed to come—the grave—and it is only a temporary resting-place. So poetry names it the ‘narrow bed,’ but it is the poetry of simple truth.

  b.  Qualified by prep. phrase, as bed of death = DEATH-BED, also used as synonymous with next; bed of dust, the grave; bed of down, flowers, roses, (fig.) a delightful resting-place, a comfortable or easy position; bed of hono(u)r, hono(u)r’s bed, (spec.) the grave of a soldier who has died on the field of battle; bed of pleasure; bed of sickness (cf. SICK-BED) that upon which a person lies during illness; bed of state, a superb and finely decorated bed for show, or for laying out the corpse of a distinguished person (see STATE-BED).

1549–59.  Bk. Com. Prayer, Visit. Sick. Look down … upon this child now lying upon the bed of sickness.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 232. Custome … Hath made the fiinty … Coach of Warre My thrice-driuen bed of downe.

1648.  Herrick, Hesper., Connub. Flor. Go then discreetly to the bed of pleasure. Ibid., To Mrs. Eliz. Herrick. Thy bed of roses.

1663.  Butler, Hud., I. iii. 147. If he that in the field is slain Be in the bed of honour lain.

1676.  C. Jeaffreson, in Young Squire (1877), Those [English] behaved themselves gallantly, and were most of them layd in the bed of honour.

1713.  Lond. Gaz., 5099/1. The Corps of the late King is expos’d in a Bed of State.

1735.  Pope, Prol. Sat., 408. Smooth the bed of death.

1747.  Gent. Mag., XVII. 326. In that Bed of Dust, I leave him to repose till a General Resurrection.

1764.  Goldsm., Trav., 86. These rocks by custom turn to beds of down.

1777.  Robertson, Hist. Amer., V. Wks. (1831), 890/1. Am I now reposing on a bed of flowers?

1806.  Ld. Castlereagh, 3 April, in Cobbett’s Parl. Debates (1806), VI. 707. The present administration may be considered as on a Bed of Roses.

1834.  Mary Howitt, Sk. Nat. Hist. (1851), 105. That soldiers die upon honour’s bed!

1838.  T. Jackson, E. Meth. Preachers (1846), I. 377. My death-bed is a bed of roses.

  c.  Verbal phrases: To bring to bed, a-bed, formerly = put to bed; now generally passive, to be delivered of a child; also fig. (see also ABED). To die in one’s bed: to die at home or of ‘natural causes,’ as opposed to violent death in war, persecution, etc. To go to bed: to go to lie down to sleep. † To have one’s bed: to give birth to a child, ‘lie in.’ To keep one’s bed: to remain in bed through sickness or other cause. To leave one’s bed: to recover from sickness. To make a bed: to put a bed in order after it has been used. To lie or sleep in the bed one has made (fig. extension of prec.): to accept the natural fruits or results of one’s own conduct. To make up a bed: to prepare sleeping accommodation not previously available. To take a bed, to bed = ‘bring to bed’ (see above); also fig. To take to one’s bed: to become confined to bed through sickness or infirmity.

c. 1320.  Seuyn Sages (W.), 525. An even late, the emperowr Was browt to bedde with honour.

c. 1530.  Ld. Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814), 540. Florence was brought a bed, and had a fayre sonne.

1649.  Ld. Herbert, Hen. VIII., 66. The Queene … being brought to bed of a daughter.

1685.  Gracian’s Courtier’s Orac., 161. There are some artificial men, that … are brought to bed of mistakes.

1742.  Jarvis, Quix., I. I. vi. The knights eat, sleep, and die in their beds.

c. 1205.  Lay., 711. A þeon time … Þonne men gað to bedde.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. Prol. 43. In glotonye, god it wote gon hij to bedde.

1601.  Shaks., Twel. N., II. iii. 7. To go to bed after midnight, is to goe to bed betimes.

1848.  Mrs. Gaskell, M. Barton (1882), 1. My Mary expects to have her bed in three weeks.

1534.  Tindale, Acts ix. 33. A certayne man whych had kepte hys bed viii. yere.

c. 1590.  Marlowe, Faust. (2nd vers.), 981. All this day the sluggard keeps his bed.

1828.  Scott, F. M. Perth, xvi. To speak plainly, she keeps her bed.

1742.  Jarvis, Quix., I. I. vii. Two days after, when Don Quixote left his bed.

1598.  Shaks., Merry W., I. iv. 102. I wash, ring, brew … make the beds, and doe all my selfe.

1745.  Swift, Direct. Servants, Wks. 1756, VII. 404. Your master’s bed is made … lock the chamber door.

1832.  Hone, Year Bk., 1301. He would not allow his bed to be made oftener than once a-week.

1883.  Flor. Nightingale, in Quain’s Dict. Med., s.v. Nursing, A true nurse always knows how to make a bed, and always makes it herself.

1753.  Hanway, Trav., I. III. xxxi. 136. They might sleep in the bed which they had made.

1878.  Lady Barker, Bedr. & Boudoir, iii. 43. This could be removed at night, and the bed made up in the usual way.

1883.  Harper’s Mag., Dec., 135. By-and-by he took to his bed.

  d.  Prepositional phrases: in, to, out of bed.

1382.  Wyclif, Luke xi. 7. My children ben with me in bed.

1742.  Jarvis, Quix., I. I. vii. They found him already out of bed.

1761.  Churchill, Night, Poems (1769), I. 78. ’Till vain Prosperity retires to bed.

1790.  Mrs. A. Adams, Lett. (1848), 349. She has been twice bled, a blister upon her side, and has not been out of bed since.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 129. Prodicus was still in bed.

  7.  Bed of justice (Fr. lit de justice): a bed adorned in a particular way in the French king’s bedchamber, where he gave receptions; spec. the throne of the king in the Parliament of Paris; also, a sitting of this parliament at which the king was present. As the king sometimes convened the parliament to enforce the registration of his own decrees, the term came to be chiefly or exclusively applied to sessions held for this purpose.

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Bed of justice … is only held on affairs relating to the state.

1787.  T. Jefferson, Writ., II. (1859), 251. The King has been obliged to hold a bed of justice, to enforce the registering of new taxes.

1837.  Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. III. iv. 102. On the morrow, this Parlement … declares all that was done on the prior day to be null, and the Bed of Justice as good as a futility.

1875.  Stubbs, Const. Hist., II. xv. 265. The … bed of justice, in which the king … solemnly attested the decisions … put in form by parliament.

  II.  The flat base or surface on which anything rests.

  8.  A level or smooth piece of ground in a garden, usually somewhat raised, for the better cultivation of the plants with which it is filled; also used to include the plants themselves which grow in it.

c. 1000.  Sax. Leechd., I. 96. Ðeos wyrt … bið cenned … on wyrtbeddum. Ibid., 98. Ðeos wyrt … bið cenned … on hreodbeddon.

1475.  Bk. Noblesse, 70. The gardyns … rengid withe beddis bering … divers herbis.

1535.  Coverdale, Song Sol. v. 13. His chekes are like a garden bedd.

1632.  Milton, Allegro. Beds of violets blue.

1690.  Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxix. (1695), 198. If I believed, that Sempronia digged Titus out of the Parsley-Bed, as they use to tell Children, and thereby became his Mother.

1727.  Swift, Country Post, Wks. 1755, III. I. 175. Not a turnip or carrot can lie safe in their beds.

1847.  Tennyson, Princess, ii. 416. The long hall glitter’d like a bed of flowers.

  fig.  1647.  Ward, Simp. Cobler, 22. The bed of Truth is green all the yeare long.

  9.  The bottom of a lake or sea, or of the channel of a river or stream.

a. 1586.  Sidney, in Sel. Poetry (Parker Soc.), I. 67. On sea’s discovered bed.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., V. i. 151. I wish My selfe were mudded in that oozie bed.

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett., IV. xix. Rivers … have still the same beds.

1779.  Phil. Trans., LXIX. 609. While the volume of water in the bed of a river increases.

1814.  Scott, Ld. of Isles, III. xii. A wild stream … Came crawling down its bed of rock.

1830.  Lyell, Princ. Geol., I. 85. Donati explored the bed of the Adriatic.

  10.  An extended base upon which anything rests firmly or securely, or in which it is embedded; a basis, a matrix.

1633.  T. Stafford, Pac. Hib., xvi. (1821), 175. Ready to make a bed for the placing of the powder.

1676.  Grew, Luctation, ii. § 2. Bolus’s are the Beds, or as it were, the Materia prima, both of opacous Stones, and Metals.

1803.  Wellington, Mem., in Gurw., Disp., I. 487. A bed for the boat ought to be fixed on each axle tree.

1839.  Hooper, Med. Dict. (ed. 7), 1218. Shock … sufficient to shoot off an ovulum from its bed.

1859.  Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., V. 477/1. In the dog and cat the bed of the claw is laminated as in man.

  11.  A level surface on which anything rests, e.g., the level surface in a printing press on which the form of type is laid; the flat surface of a billiard-table, which is covered with green cloth; etc.

1846.  Print. Appar. Amateur, 10. The press … consists of two stout blocks of mahogany; the lower piece called the bed … the upper piece called the platten, which closes upon the bed.

  12.  In various technical uses (from 10 and 11):

  a.  Gunnery. The portion of a gun-carriage upon which the gun rests; formerly spec. a movable block of wood laid under the breech to give the general elevation, quoins being driven between it and the gun.

  b.  Arch. and Building. The surface of a stone or brick which is embedded in the mortar; the under side of a slate.

  c.  Mech. Any foundation, framework, or support, which furnishes a solid or unyielding surface upon which to rest a superstructure, or execute a piece of work.

  d.  Carpentry. A support or rest, e.g., for a ship on the stocks, for the lodging of a bowsprit, etc.

  e.  Railway-making. The layer of broken stone, gravel, clay, etc., upon which the rails are laid.

  a.  1598.  Barret, Theor. Warres, V. iii. 135. Certaine cariages, or beds for the Artillery.

1694.  Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 387. The new mortars … are laid in beds of brasse.

1811.  Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., VII. 569. Have the carriages of the 24 pounders, as well as the mortar beds and howitzer carriages … put in a state to be fit for service.

1816.  C. James, Mil. Dict., s.v., Sea-Mortar-beds are … made of solid timber … having a hole in the center to receive the pintle or strong iron bolt, about which the bed turns.

1862.  F. Griffiths, Artill. Man. (ed. 9), 127. A 13-inch mortar, and its bed, require each a waggon.

  b.  1677.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 245. The bed of the Brick, (viz. that side which lies in the Morter).

1816.  C. James, Mil. Dict. (ed. 4), s.v. Bed of Stone, The joint of the bed is the mortar between two stones placed over each other.

1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 364. Bed of a Brick.—The horizontal surface as disposed in a wall.

1842.  Gwilt, Archit. (1876), 655. The bed of a slate is its under side. Ibid., 1194. In general language the beds … are the surfaces where the stones or bricks meet.

  c, d.  1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 201. It is beat by iron-headed Stampers upon an iron bed.

1823.  P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 242. [In a Plane] the bed … is the aperture in the stock, upon which the iron is laid, and secured by the wedge. The angle of the bed … is generally from 42 to 45 degrees.

1831.  J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 198. Cut the nails out … with a bed and punch.

1881.  Mechanic, § 581. A good working lathe with strong wooden standards and wooden 3 ft. bed.

c. 1860.  H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 74. Where it rests on the stem is the bed.

  III.  A layer or bed-like mass.

  13.  A layer, a stratum; a horizontal course.

1616.  Surfl. & Markh., Countr. Farm, 407. Lay them orderly in a vessel, hauing in the bottome of it a bed of Sauorie … laying a bed of Sauorie, and a bed of Cherries.

1672.  T. Venn, Compl. Gunner, xxxi. 51. Two foot high of Earth, bed upon bed, unto eleven foot high.

1725.  Pope, Odyss., IX. 449. The stake now glow’d beneath the burning bed.

1783.  Ainsworth, Lat. Dict. (Morell), 1. A bed of Sand, &c. stratum.

1833.  Tennyson, Poems, 84. Clusters and beds of worlds, and bee-like swarms Of suns.

1875.  Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 373. The filter-beds … are large square beds of sand and gravel.

  b.  Geol. A layer or stratum of some thickness.

1684.  Ray, Philos. Lett. (1718), 166. That Bed of Sand and Cockle Shells found in sinking a well.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 106. The bed or stratum of freestone worked here.

1863.  Ramsay, Phys. Geol. Gt. Brit. (1878), 254. In the Bembridge beds there has also been found the Anoplotheroid mammal.

1874.  Lyell, Elem. Geol., xxi. 355. The lowest ‘bed’ of the Lias.

1878.  Huxley, Physiogr., 28. The pervious substance being thus enclosed between two impervious beds, one forming its floor and the other its roof.

  14.  A layer of small animals, especially reptiles, congregated thickly in some particular spot. Cf. nest in a similar sense.

1608.  Shaks., Per., IV. ii. 155. Thunder shall not so awake the beds of eels.

1666.  J. H., Treat. Gt. Antidote, 10. This Medicene breaks the bed of Worms.

1692.  R. Lestrange Fables, 209 (1708), I. 228. Apt to run … into a Bed of Scorpions.

1731.  Bailey, Bed of Snakes, a knot of young ones.

  b.  esp. A layer of shell-fish covering a tract of the bottom of the sea.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, II. xiv. 325. A Bed of Oysters, Muscles, and Cockles.

1865.  Parkman, Huguenots, ix. (1875), 152. The channel was a bed of oysters.

1879.  Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 97/1. The spat … drifted … from the natural beds.

  IV.  Various transferred uses.

  15.  A division of the ground in the game of ‘hopscotch,’ also called locally the game of ‘beds.’

1801.  Strutt, Sports & Past., IV. iv. 339. A parallelogram … divided into compartments, which were called beds.

  † 16.  The placenta or after-birth. Obs.

1611.  Cotgr., Aguelette, their bed, or after birth … is more grosse.

  17.  The ‘silver side’ of a round of beef.

1864.  Derby Mercury, 14 Dec., 8/4. Good beef (beds and rounds taken off at the joints).

  V.  Comb. and Attrib.

  18.  General relations: a. attrib., as bed-apparel, -blanket, -board, -bolster, -bottom, -bug, -case, -curtain, -damask, -flea, -foot, -frame, -furniture, † -glee, -hangings, -head, -hour, -house, † -joiner, -mate, -place, -quilt, -rite (-right), -rug, † -sabbath (a sabbath in bed), -sheet, -stand, -steps, -stuff, -tester; b. objective gen. with verbal sb. or pple., as † bed-presser; -making, † -spreading.

1822.  Byron, Werner, I. i. 264. Madame Idenstein … shall furnish forth the *bed-apparel.

1701.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3696/4. Fine Flannel *Bed-Blankets.

1530.  Palsgr., 197/1. *Bedde borde, sponde.

1684.  I. Mather, Remark. Provid., v. 104. When the man was … a bed, his *bed-board did rise out of its place.

a. 1000.  Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, Voc., 124. Plumacius, *bedbolster.

1813.  Bingley, Anim. Biog., III. 181. The *Bed Bug is a nauseous and troublesome inhabitant of most of the houses in large towns.

1557.  Lanc. & Chesh. Wills, 71. I bequethe all my harnes and all the *bedcasis [etc.].

1774.  Phil. Trans., LXV. 274. We have seen … *bed-fleas … swarming at the mouths of these holes.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 24. A *Bedfute, fultrum.

1670.  Cotton, Espernon, III. xii. 647. He had … a Crucifix fastned to his *Beds-feet.

1865.  Swinburne, Poems & Ball., Xmas Carol, 46. The bedstead shall be gold two spans, The *bedroot silver fine.

1815.  Scott, Guy M., xliv. Iron *bedframes and straw mattresses.

1861.  Mrs. Beeton, Bk. Househ. Managem., 993. The *bed-furniture requires changing.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 91. Had not I such daliaunce, such pipling *bed-gle renounced.

1566.  Eng. Ch. Furnit. (1866), 100. Fyve banner clothes … and he haith made *bedd henginges therof.

1864.  Chamber’s Jrnl., 8 Oct., 642. Hair like the fringe to bed-hangings.

1579.  Fulke, Confut. Sanders, 649. He worshipped toward the *bedshead.

1853.  Kane, Grinnell Exp., v. (1856), 35. The temptation to avoid a regular *bed-hour was sometimes irresistible.

1881.  Du Chaillu, Land of Midnight Sun, II. 276. A larder and a separate *bed-house.

1725.  Lond. Gaz., No. 6385/4. Richard Beardsley … *Bed-Joyner.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 75. With iealosie kindled Orestes For los of his *bedmate.

1850.  Blackie, Æschylus, I. 157. He was thy bedmate living, Be thou his comrade, dead.

1566.  T. Nuce, Seneca’s Octavia (1581), 177. Fasten Poppie sure in our *bed-place.

1833.  Marryat, P. Simple (1863), 362. Retired to my standing bed-place in the cabin.

1598.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 268. This sanguine Coward, this *Bed-presser.

1601.  Cornwallyes, Ess. (1632), xviii. Fame never knew a perpetuall Bedpresser.

a. 1847.  Mrs. Sherwood, Lady of Manor, vi. 193. A patch-work *bedquilt.

1610.  Shaks., Temp., IV. i. 96. No *bed-right shall be paid Till Hymens Torch be lighted.

1684.  P. Henry, Diaries & Lett. (1882), 323. Feb. 23, a *Bed-Sabbath, few such, cup’d and blister’d.

1481–90.  Howard Househ. Bks., 274, Iiij. peir schitz for my Lord, [and] ij. *bedschitz.

1610.  Healey, City of God, 132. The Sybils bookes directed the first *Bed-spreading to last eight dayes.

1535.  Coverdale, 2 Sam. xvii. 28. And Barsillai … broughte *bed-stuffe, tapestrie worke.

1704.  Lond. Gaz., No. 4068/4. Old Serge *Bed-Testers.

1843.  Carlyle, Misc. (1857), iv. 269. For bed-tester is the canopy of everlasting blue.

  19.  Special combinations: † bed-ale (see quot.); † bed-bere, a pillow-case; bed-bolster, -bolt, in Gunnery (see quots.); † bed-broker, a pander, pimp; bed-card, a card fixed at the head of a hospital patient’s bed, giving a statement of the ‘case’; bed-chair, a chair for the sick, with a movable back, to support them while sitting up in bed; bed-coach, a coach with sleeping accommodation; † bed-company; bed-cord, a cord for stretching the sacking of a bed; bed-eel (see quot.); † bed-evil, illness that confines to bed; † bed-game; † bed-gang, -gate, going to bed; † bed-geld (see quot.); bed-irons, the iron framework for a bed (cf. fire-irons); bed-joint, a split or parting in a rock parallel to the surface of the earth; bed-key, an iron tool for screwing and unscrewing the nuts and bolts of a bedstead; bed-lift, a canvas stretched by a wooden frame, with an aperture in the center for defæcation, upon which a patient may be raised (Syd. Soc. Lex.); bed-litter, straw, etc., to make up a bed; † bed-loft (transl. of L. pulvinar), a couch made of cushions, upon which images of the gods were placed at festivals; † bed-match, marriage, wedlock; bed-mo(u)lding (arch.), ‘the mouldings under a projection, as the corona of a cornice’ (Gwilt); bed-piece, -plate (Mech.), the foundation or support of any mechanical structure; bed-rock (Geol.) the solid rock underlying alluvial and other superficial formations; also fig. bottom, lowest level; bed-screw, a screw used for holding together the posts and beams of a wooden bedstead; also, a powerful machine for lifting heavy bodies, often used in launching vessels; † bed-seller (see quot.); bed-sick, sick and in bed; † bed-sister, the mistress of a married man in relation to his lawful wife; bed-sore, a soreness of the skin produced by long lying in bed; bed-stone, a large heavy stone used as the foundation and support of girders, etc., in building; also, the lower stone in an oil-mill, on which the runners roll; bed-string (= bed-cord); † bed-swerver, one unfaithful to the marriage-bed; † bed-vow, promise of fidelity to the marriage-bed; bed-way in Geol. (see quot.); bed-ways adv., in the direction of the beds or strata; bed-winch, -wrench, an instrument for tightening up or loosening the screws of bedsteads; † bedwoman, a woman confined to bed; † bed-work, work that is or can be done in bed or without toil, easy work.

1880.  W. Cornw. Gloss. (E.D.S.), *Bed-ale, groaning ale; ale brewed for a christening.

1420.  E. E. Wills (1882), 41. That Anneys Tukkysworthe have þe beste *bedbere.

1769.  Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), C c iv. On the fore-part of the bed a piece of timber is placed transversely, upon which rests the belly of the mortar…. This piece is called the *bed-bolster. Ibid., I iv. The *bed-bolt, upon which the bed rests to support the breech of the cannon.

1592.  Daniel, Compl. Rosamond (1717), 58. And fly … these *Bed-Brokers unclean.

1885.  Standard, 4 Aug., 3/7. A *bed card bearing on the case had been taken away.

1685.  Bp. Burnet, Trav. France, iii. (1752), 96. His was a huge *bed-coach, all the outside black veluet.

a. 1555.  Latimer, Serm. & Rem. (1845), 101. The lawful *bed-company that is between married folks.

a. 1625.  Fletcher, Nt. Walker, V. i. With the *bed-cord he may pass for a porter.

1720.  Gay, Poems (1745), II. 59. Beneath the frighted guest The bed-cords trembled.

1769.  Pennant, Zool., III. 112. A variety of small eel … that is found in clusters in the bottom of the river, and is called the *Bed-eel.

1609.  Skene, Reg. Maj., 107. Na defaulte nor essonzie of law, bot gif it be mal de lit, that is *bed evill.

1602.  Warner, Alb. Eng., XI. lxi. (1612), 268. But deified swore he him her *bed-game sweets might taste.

a. 1300.  E. E. Psalter lv. 2. Dreried I am in mi *bed-gange.

c. 1440.  Morte Arth. (Roxb.), 1030. Thre balefulle birdez … That byddez his *bedgatt.

1483.  Cath. Angl., 25. *Bedgate, conticinium, concubium.

1844.  R. Hart, Antiq. Norfolk, xxiv. 79. *Bedgeld was the fine paid to the lord on the marriage of his vassal.

1863.  Cornh. Mag., March, 446. The *bed-irons are turned up.

1747.  Hooson, Miner’s Dict., L iij b. In some … Veins … the *Bed-joynts themselves will often carry it a little aside.

1861.  Wynter, Soc. Bees, 343. Winding up some moaning machinery with a *bed-key.

c. 1425.  in Wright, Voc., 199. Hoc stratum, *bed-lytter.

1606.  Holland, Sueton., 60, marg. The *bedloft wher the sacred Images of the Gods were devoutly bestowed.

1583.  Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 96. Juno, the chaplain, Seams vp the *bedmatch.

1703.  Chatsworth Build. Accts., in Jrnl. Derbysh. Archæol. Soc., III. 39. The lower member of the *bedmolding of the cornice.

1727–51.  Chambers, Cycl., s.v., A *bed-moulding usually consists of these four members, an O-G, a list, a large boultine, and another list under the coronet.

1879.  Encycl. Brit., X. 745/1. In alluvial deposits the richest ground is usually found in contact with the *bed rock.

1881.  Chicago Times, 11 June. The transactions … having been based on bed-rock prices.

1883.  J. Hay, in Century Mag., 581/1. He is in the penitentiary now, and the family is about down to *bedrock.

1757.  in Phil. Trans., L. 289. There were set up, under the wales … of the ship … nine pair of *bed-screws.

1832.  Babbage, Econ. Manuf., xvii. 153. Bed-screws, 6 inches long.

1553.  Lanc. Wills (1857), I. 91. Y^e courtens and hangings bedstocke and *bedseller of y^e same.

c. 1550.  Sir J. Balfour, Practicks (1754), 361. If it be provin … that he is *bed-seik and may not travel.

1611.  Barksted, Hiren (1876), 81.

1297.  R. Glouc., 27. Astrilde hire *bedsuster (hire lordes concubine).

1861.  Flor. Nightingale, Nursing, 57. Where there is any danger of *bed-sores a blanket should never be placed under the patient.

1878.  T. Bryant, Pract. Surg., I. 34. In theory bed-sores should never occur.

1723.  S. Morland, Spec. Lat. Dict., 6. Nor have they the least mention of *Bed-stone in the English.

1862.  Report E. Midl. R’way Co., 26. Pier No. 14. has the bedstones for the girders set.

1848.  Thackeray, Van. Fair, v. (1853), 31. They cut his *bed-strings.

1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., II. 1. 93. Shee’s A *Bed-swaruer. Ibid. (1600), Sonn., clii. Thy *bed-vow broake and new faith torne.

1881.  Raymond, Mining Gloss., Bed-way, an appearance of stratification, or parallel marking, in granite.

1883.  Stonemason, Jan. The blocks … are usually sawn through *bedways about two feet from the top.

1568.  R. Bertie, in Lady Bertie, Loyal Ho. (1845), 42. Though she continue a *bedwoman and not a footwoman.

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 203. They call this *Bed-worke, Mapp’ry, Closset-Warre.

1844.  Regul. & Ord. Army, 235. See that the different parts of the bedsteads are properly screwed together, (for which purpose a *bed-wrench is to be hung in every room).