Pa. t. and pple. bedded. Forms: 1 beddian, 2–3 beddi-en, 3 beddy, 2–5 bedd-e(n, 4–7 bedde, 6– bed. [OE. będdian f. będ(d), BED.]
I. Connected with a bed for sleeping.
† 1. intr. To spread or prepare a bed. Const. dat.; also with cognate object. Obs.
a. 1000. in Thorpe’s Laws, II. 282 (Bosw.). Féde þearfan, and beddiʓe him.
a. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 140. Bedde hys bed myd mór-secʓe.
1382. Wyclif, Job xvii. 13. In dercnessis I beddede my bed.
2. trans. To lay in bed, put to bed; to furnish (a person) with a bed.
c. 1200. Ormin, 2712. To wasshenn hem, to warrmenn hemm, To beddenn hemm & frofrenn.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Sam. ix. 25. He beddide Saul in the solere, and he slepte.
1394. P. Pl. Crede, 772. Þey schulden nouȝt … bedden swiche broþels in so brode schetes.
1646. W. Price, Mans Delinq., 20. It will not leave us, if we welcom and bed and board it.
1863. B. Taylor, Poet’s Jrnl. (1866), 35. Beds me in its balmy green.
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., vii. (1878), 120. No end of work … to get them all bedded for the night.
b. spec. To put (a couple) to bed together.
a. 1300. Havelok, 1235. He sholen bedden hire and the.
a. 1639. W. Whateley, Prototypes, II. xxxi. (1640), 118. To see a stranger bedded with him instead of his owne Spouse.
1680. Lond. Gaz., No. 1494/4. The Dauphin and the Dauphiness were Bedded.
a. 1743. Ld. Hervey’s Mem., Introd. Sure Venus had never seen bedded So lovely a beau and a belle.
3. To take (a wife) to bed. arch.
1548. Hall, Chron. Hen. VIII. (R.). She was both wedded and bedded with his brother Prince Arthur.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. i. 149. That would thoroughly woe her, wed her, and bed her, and ridde the house of her.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, IV. 140. Askt him why he would neglect his Vow, and bed another Woman.
1740. L. Clarke, Hist. Bible, I. I. 63. Jacob … then married and bedded Rachel.
4. intr. To go to bed; to retire for the night.
1635. Heywood, London’s Sinus Salut., 289. Rise earlie, and bed late.
1822. Hood, Lycus (1871), 61. The cave where I bedded.
b. spec. said of a couple sleeping together.
c. 1315. Shoreham, 76. Ȝef thon thother profreth, Wyth any other to beddy.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 79. Andromachee dooth bed with a countrye man husband.
1668. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), II. 37. Sir Samuel Tuke, Bart., and the lady he had married this day, came and bedded at night at my house.
1740. H. Carey, Sally in our Alley, vii. O then we’ll wed, and then we’ll bed, But not in our Alley.
1763. C. Johnston, Reverie, II. 6. No man can bear to bed with such an ugly, filthy brute.
† 5. fig. To lodge, find a resting-place. Obs.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 185. Eorþliche lou and heouenliche ne maȝen … beddin in a breoste.
a. 1220. Hali Meid., 43. Ne muhen ha nanes weis bedden in a breoste.
6. trans. To put (animals) to rest for the night; to provide with ‘bedding’ or litter for sleeping purposes. Also with up, down.
c. 1480. King & H., 166, E. P. P. (1864), 20. Hys stede into the house he lede, With litter son he gan hym bed.
a. 1791. Wesley, Wks. (1872), VIII. 318. See … that your horse be rubbed, fed, and bedded.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 380. They were obliged to bed their horses with pine leaves.
1859. Art Taming Horses, xi. 188. My Lord, the horses are bedded up.
1863. Cornh. Mag., March, 448. Bedding down the horses and making them snug for the night.
7. intr. Of an animal: To make its lair; the specific term used of the roe.
c. 1470. Hors, Shepe, & G. (1822), 33. A roo is bedded.
1610. Gwillim, Heraldry, III. xiv. (1660), 166. You shall say that a Roe Beddeth.
1819. Rees, Cycl., s.v. Bedding, A roe is said to bed; a hart to harbour.
8. trans. To furnish (a room) with a bed. rare.
1758. Mrs. Calderwood, Jrnl. (1884), 44. The captain has the cabin bedded at his expense.
II. Connected with a garden bed, a layer, base.
9. trans. To plant in or as in a garden bed; to plant deeply. To bed out: to plant out in a bed or beds.
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants (1682), 28. Trunk-Roots newly bedded.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., I. i. (1708), 7 (J.). Lay some of your best Mould to bed your Quick in.
Mod. May is rather too early to bed out your geraniums.
10. To sink or bury in a matrix of any kind, to cover up or fix firmly in any substance; to EMBED.
1586. J. Hooker, Girald. Irel., in Holinsh., II. 4/1. A place where the ships lie bedded.
1692. Ray, Disc., II. iv. (1732), 200. The Minerals wherein they are bedded.
1803. Phil. Trans., XCIII. 142. Bedded and fixed firmly in a brass socket.
1874. Mrs. Wood, Mast. Greylands, xxvii. 320. The bullet … must have bedded itself in the wall.
fig. 1862. Trench, Mirac., xxviii. 385. Testimonies … which not lying on the surface of Scripture, are bedded deeply in it.
b. intr. To rest on, to lie on for support.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, III. 692. The rail, therefore, beds throughout on the ballast.
11. Building. To lay (bricks or stones) in position in cement or mortar.
1685. Boyle, Effects of Motion, viii. 104. Stones … taken out of the cement wherein they were bedded.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 398. Both plain and pan tiles are commonly bedded in mortar.
fig. 1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., I. viii. 62. Words well bedded also in good Logic-mortar.
12. Masonry. To dress the face or ‘bed’ of a stone (cf. BED sb. 12 b.).
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 169. Each size and species of stone were to be worked … to a given parallel thickness … and … when so bedded … to be cut … to the true figure.
13. To spread, strew, or cover with a bed or layer of anything. Cf. to carpet.
1859. Kingsley, Misc., II. 299. Those dells bedded with dark velvet green fern.
fig. 1839. Bailey, Festus (1848), v. It is fear which beds the far to-come with fire.
14. To lay in a bed or layer; e.g., to lay (oysters) in beds prepared for their reception.
1653. Walton, Angler, 190. Many of them [eels] together bed themselves, and live without feeding upon anything.
1721. Phil. Trans., XXXI. 250. The Bottom of its Channel … all bedded with good Oysters.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. III. 169. The Oysters are placed in large reservoirs … this is called ‘Bedding the Oysters.’
15. intr. To form a compact layer.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew., II. v. By reason of the softnesse thereof it beddeth closer.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks., 144. The wette strawe coucheth better, and beddes closer.
1787. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 168. Hairs bed well when they twist kindly.
16. To bed up: to lie up in beds or strata against.
1782. Withering, in Phil. Trans., LXXII. 329. The lime-stone rocks … bed up against it, and the coal comes up to the surface against the lime-stone.
