bed

1 of 4

noun

1
a
: a piece of furniture on or in which to lie and sleep
b(1)
: a place of sex relations
(2)
: marital relationship
(3)
: close association : cahoots
a legislator in bed with lobbyists
c
: a place for sleeping
d
: sleep
also : a time for sleeping
took a walk before bed
e(1)
: a mattress filled with soft material
(2)
f
: the equipment and services needed to care for one hospitalized patient or hotel guest
2
: a flat or level surface: such as
a
: a plot of ground prepared for plants
also : the plants grown in such a plot
b
: the bottom of a body of water
especially : an area of sea bottom supporting a heavy growth of a particular organism
an oyster bed
3
: a supporting surface or structure : foundation
4
5
a
: the place or material in which a block or brick is laid
b
: the lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile
6
: a mass or heap resembling a bed
a bed of ashes
served on a bed of lettuce
7
: an open, usually rectangular cargo area or platform at the rear of truck
a pickup truck with a short bed
We loaded the equipment and put a cover over the truck bed.
8
music
a
: an instrumental or vocal track that is combined with other tracks to produce a musical composition
Turner gives the track an air of familiarity with his lead vocal, which sits atop an instrumental bed dominated by an infectious, sweeping string section.Music Week
b
: a musical soundtrack (as to a motion picture or television show)
As a video tribute … played on a projector screen, with a music bed complementing a montage of pictures from different stages of the players' lives, a mom admitted to having tears in her eyes.Joe Aguilar

bed

2 of 4

verb

bedded; bedding

intransitive verb

1
a
: to find or make sleeping accommodations
usually used with down
a place to bed down
b
: to go to bed
usually used with down
bed down at midnight
2
: to form a layer
3
: to lie flat or flush

transitive verb

1
a
: to furnish with a bed or bedding : settle in sleeping quarters
often used with down
b
: to put, take, or send to bed
2
a
: embed
b
: to plant or arrange in beds
3
a
: to lay flat or in a layer
b
: to make a bed in or of
4
: to have sexual intercourse with

BEd

3 of 4

abbreviation (1)

bachelor of education

BED

4 of 4

abbreviation (2)

binge eating disorder
More than seven million Americans struggle with binge eating disorder (BED), according to a recent Harvard-based study …Naomi Barr
BED is characterized by eating alone, more rapidly than normal, continuing to eat even though you're full and eating when you're not really hungry.New Hampshire Sunday News
Phrases
go to bed with
: to have sexual intercourse with (someone)
She had gone to bed with a man she loved and had suffered the ultimate humiliation—rejection …Evelyn Anthony
in bed
: in the act of sexual intercourse
caught her husband and another woman in bed together
in/into bed with
informal
: in/into an improperly close relationship with
… he found himself in bed with those he used to see as the wrong kind of people …Ronald Radosh
The administration had gotten into bed with an obscure guerrilla army with which it had, in truth, few sympathies.Mark Dennis et al.
make one's bed and lie in it
used to say that one is responsible for dealing with the problems that result from one's own bad decisions
Why should taxpayers have to cover for the foolish investments and risky deals financial fat cats made? Wall Street made its bed, the thinking goes, and now those executives should lie in it.The Dallas Morning Star

Examples of bed in a Sentence

Noun The room contains only a bed and a dresser. There are two beds in the hotel room. He lay in bed all morning. The blanket by the fireplace is the dog's bed. Her bed was a mound of soft pine needles. I'm planning on putting a bed of perennials in that corner of the yard. Verb He has fantasies about bedding a fashion model. the campers all bedded down for the night around 9:00 p.m.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The water may be clear enough in your area to see the bass actively making and guarding their beds. Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 21 Mar. 2024 Miranda inflated an air mattress for Nat to use as a bed. David Frum, The Atlantic, 21 Mar. 2024 Phelps was accused of grooming and inappropriately touching the girl on several occasions and exchanging text messages, including one with a picture of a man and a woman lying on a bed kissing. Christina Hall, Detroit Free Press, 20 Mar. 2024 Even after multiple washes, the sheets remain soft and cooling and thus have become a steady fixture on my bed. Amy Schulman, Peoplemag, 20 Mar. 2024 My husband must wash my hair now, bring me food in bed. Cheri Lucas Rowlands, Longreads, 19 Mar. 2024 Everything, including the porridge left in cooking pots, crashed through the burning wicker floors into the thick, sticky reed beds below and stayed there. Franz Lidz, New York Times, 19 Mar. 2024 The company’s stock has largely recovered from a slump endured in 2022 when a cost-of-living squeeze sapped demand for big-ticket items such as beds and hot tubs. Damian Shepherd, Fortune Europe, 8 Mar. 2024 Getting out of bed in the morning isn’t always easy, especially on dark and gloomy winter days where emerging from underneath the covers can feel downright painful. Adria Greenhauff, Better Homes & Gardens, 8 Mar. 2024
Verb
Keep scrolling to check out some of our favorites, from bedding to organizers, electric spin scrubbers, kitchen gadgets, and more. Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 Mar. 2024 From November to February, non-resident anglers pour into the state to escape the cold and pursue bass that are often bedding. Shaye Baker, Field & Stream, 13 Mar. 2024 Then join the 30,000 Amazon shoppers who recently bought these large fabric storage bags and use them to store everything from off-season clothes to bedding. Isabel Garcia, Peoplemag, 19 Feb. 2024 Plus, from charcoal to white, the neutral shade range will easily slot into your existing bedding lineup. Merrell Readman, Travel + Leisure, 12 Feb. 2024 All this diminishes the environmental burden typically associated with bedding products. Sixteen Ramos, USA TODAY, 14 Jan. 2024 The new collection features more than 200 fashion and home items, including custom furniture, bedding accessories, and unique home decor. Sophia Beams, Better Homes & Gardens, 21 Feb. 2024 The home goods and bedding categories saw significant growth during the pandemic, but that slowed as people began to spend less time in their homes. Brin Snelling, Forbes, 20 Feb. 2024 Keep scrolling to check out the rest of our top picks, and then head to Walmart to see all the impressive bedding deals happening now. Toni Sutton, Peoplemag, 7 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, going back to Old English bedd "sleeping place, plot of ground prepared for plants," going back to Germanic *badja- (whence Old Frisian bed "sleeping place," Old High German betti, Old Norse beðr "bolster, bedding," Gothic badi "sleeping place"), of uncertain origin

Note: Traditionally Germanic *badja- has been taken as a derivative of an Indo-European verbal base *bhodh-i- "poke, dig" (see fossil entry 1), on the assumption that a bed was originally a pit dug in the ground, though evidence that early Germanic or pre-Germanic peoples slept in pits seems to be lacking.

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of bed was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near bed

Cite this Entry

“Bed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bed. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

bed

1 of 2 noun
1
a
: a piece of furniture on which to lie or sleep
b
: sleep entry 1 sense 1
also : a time for sleeping
watched TV before bed
2
a
: a plot of ground prepared for plants
b
: the bottom of a body of water
the bed of a river
3
: a supporting surface or structure : foundation
4
: layer entry 1 sense 2
a bed of sandstone

bed

2 of 2 verb
bedded; bedding
1
: to put or go to bed
bed down for the night
2
: to fix in or on a foundation
an argument bedded on good sense
3
: to plant or arrange in beds

Medical Definition

bed

1 of 2 noun
1
a
: a piece of furniture on or in which one may lie and sleep see hospital bed
b
: the equipment and services needed to care for one hospitalized patient
2
: a layer of specialized or altered tissue especially when separating dissimilar structures see nail bed, vascular bed

BED

2 of 2 abbreviation
binge eating disorder
One of these patterns is called binge eating disorder (BED), in which, at least twice a week, people uncontrollably eat large quantities of food in a short time span but do not purge.Carole Sugarman, The Washington Post

More from Merriam-Webster on bed

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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