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BEd

abbr.

Bachelor of Education

bed

(bĕd)

a. A piece of furniture for reclining and sleeping, typically consisting of a flat, rectangular frame and a mattress resting on springs.

b. A bedstead.

c. A mattress.

a. A place where one may sleep; lodging: found bed and board at an inn.

b. Accommodations for a single person at a hospital or institution: a maternity ward with 30 beds.

3. A time at which one goes to sleep: drank milk before bed.

4. A place for lovemaking.

5. A marital relationship with its rights and intimacies.

a. A small plot of cultivated or planted land: a flower bed.

b. An underwater or intertidal area in which a particular organism is established in large numbers: a clam bed; an oyster bed.

7. The ground surface below a body of water such as a sea, lake, or stream.

8. A supporting, underlying, or securing part, especially:

a. A layer of food surmounted by another kind of food: tomatoes on a bed of lettuce.

b. A foundation of crushed rock or a similar substance for a road or railroad; a roadbed.

c. A layer of mortar upon which stones or bricks are laid.

9. Printing The heavy table of a printing press in which the type form is placed.

10. The part of a truck, trailer, or freight car designed to carry loads.

11. Geology

a. A broad mass of rock or sediment bounded by different material.

b. A deposit, as of ore, parallel to local stratification.

12. A heap of material: a bed of wood chips.

v. bed·ded, bed·ding, beds

v.tr.

1. To furnish with a bed or sleeping quarters: We bedded our guests down in the study.

2. To put or send to bed.

3. To have sexual relations with.

4. To plant in a prepared plot of soil.

5. To lay flat or arrange in layers.

a. To embed.

b. To establish; base.

v.intr.

1. To go to bed.

2. Geology To form layers or strata.

Idioms:

get into bed with

Slang To become closely involved with another person or group, as in an intrigue: "The Israelis were experienced at this kind of [covert] ... work, but it was essential that the administration not get into bed with them on this" (Bob Woodward).

go to bed with

To have sexual relations with.

[Middle English, from Old English.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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