bed

BED/bɛd/

Pluralbeds

Verbbeds, bedding, bedded

33 meanings of bed

Practice

1
sleeping furniturenouncountable
The piece of furniture you sleep on.
Like a soft nest where you can lie down and sleep.
She made her bed before leaving for school.
Hotel rooms with two beds are popular with families.
UsageSay make your bed (tidy it). To sleep, you go to bed, with no the.
2
night's lodgingnouncountable or uncountable
A place made ready for someone to sleep for the night.
The shelter offered him a warm bed for the night.
Every traveler was promised a bed before the storm hit.
UsageSay a bed for the night.
Similarberth, bunk, place
3
settle to sleepverbintransitive
To go to sleep for the night.
Tired from the long drive, the family bedded down early at the motel.
On camping trips we bed down as soon as it gets dark.
UsageSay bed down for the night.
Similarsleep, retire, bunk, kip
Oppositerise, wake
4
nouncountable
The ground at the bottom of a river, lake, or sea.
The river bed was littered with smooth, round stones.
Sunken coins lay on the sea bed for hundreds of years.
UsageSay riverbed or seabed.
Similarbottom, floor
5
garden plotnouncountable or uncountable
A small piece of ground where flowers or plants are grown.
She planted tulips in the flower bed by the front gate.
Weeds had taken over the vegetable bed behind the shed.
UsageSay a flower bed.
Similarplot, border, patch
Note
6
noununcountable
The time when you go to sleep, or the sleep you get, as in 'time for bed'.
The children are sent to bed at eight o'clock.
Come on, it's bed for you now.
UsageSay we read before bed.
Similarbedtime, sleep
7
nouncountable or uncountable
A flat layer or place that something else sits on.
The fish came on a bed of green beans.
The hen laid her eggs on a bed of soft straw.
UsageSay fish on a bed of rice.
Similarlayer, base
Note
8
sleeping roomnouncountable or uncountableabbreviationclipping
Short for bedroom: used mainly to count rooms, as in a two-bed apartment.
They moved into a two-bed apartment downtown.
We need at least a three-bed place for the whole family.
UsageUse it when counting rooms, as in 3 beds, 2 baths. Otherwise say bedroom.
Note
9
truck platformnounCanadaUScountable or uncountable
The flat part of a truck or trailer that holds the load.
They loaded the bricks onto the truck bed.
The dog rode in the bed of the pickup.
Similartray
Note
10
sex lifenounfigurativelyuncountable
A polite way of referring to sex between people.
Their troubles in bed slowly wore the marriage down.
He bragged that no one could match him in bed.
UsageUsually in bed, with no the: good in bed.
Similarsex, lovemaking
Note
11
rock layernouncountable
A layer of rock, coal, or other material under the ground.
Like one sheet in a tall stack of paper, with a clear line where each sheet ends.
The miners drilled through a thick bed of sandstone before reaching coal.
Each bed in the cliff face records a different period of the past.
Similarlayer, stratum, seam
Note
12
sea life patchnouncountable or uncountable
An area underwater where many oysters, mussels, or seaweed are found.
Fishermen gathered shellfish from a thick bed of oysters at low tide.
Pollution destroyed the mussel beds along the coast.
UsageSay oyster beds.
Similarbank, colony, ground

Less common meanings

13
sleep withverbtransitive or intransitive
To have sex with someone.
The prince was said to bed any woman who caught his eye.
She refused to bed a man she did not love.
UsageIn everyday speech, you can say sleep with someone.
Similarseduce, mount, take, bang, bone
Note
14
verbtransitive
To put someone in a bed, or to give them a place to sleep.
The small inn could only bed six guests on a busy night.
Grandma bedded us down on the couch when we visited.
Note
15
marriagenounarchaicfigurativelycountable or uncountable
Marriage, or the bond between two people who are married.
George, the eldest son of his second bed.
Can we date this quote?, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in EnglandHere, bed means a marriage, so this is the son from his second marriage.
Similarmarriage, union, wedlock
Note
16
plant outverbtransitive
To plant flowers or other plants into a prepared patch of soil.
Like tucking each plant into its own spot of soil.
In May we bed out petunias along the driveway.
Volunteers bed hundreds of tulips in the park each fall.
UsageSay bed out young plants.
Similarplant, transplant, set
17
track basenouncountable or uncountable
The layer of crushed stone and packed earth that supports railroad tracks.
Like the sand and gravel you set patio stones on so they don't sink.
Crews packed fresh gravel into the bed beneath the rails.
Years of rain had washed away part of the bed under the rails.
Similarfoundation
18
trampoline surfacenouncountable or uncountable
The strong, tight cloth held across a trampoline's frame by springs, which you bounce on.
Like the tight skin of a drum that springs back when you press it.
She landed in the center of the bed and shot straight back up.
Try to land in the middle of the trampoline bed.
Similarmat
Note
19
air cushionnouncountable or uncountable
A layer of liquid or gas that holds something up or supports it.
Like a cushion of air that holds up an air-hockey puck so it glides.
The hovercraft floats on a bed of air pushed down by its fans.
Heavy parts ride on a thin bed of oil to cut down friction.
Similarcushion, film, layer
20
scanner glassnouncountable or uncountable
The flat glass surface of a scanner where you place a page to copy it.
Like the glass top of a copy machine where you set a page down.
She laid the photo face down on the bed and pressed scan.
Wipe the bed clean so dust does not show up in the image.
Similarglass, platen
Note
21
set firmlyverbtransitive
To set something firmly into a soft or hollow surface so it stays in place.
Workers bedded the pipe in a thick layer of sand.
Dig a deep hole and bed the post firmly in the ground.
UsageUse in or into for the material: bed the post in concrete.
Similarembed, fix, set, lodge, sink
Note
22
nouncountable
Space for one patient in a hospital or similar place, with the staff and equipment needed to care for them.
The new hospital will open next spring with two hundred beds for patients.
The nursing home had no bed for Grandma, so she went on a waiting list.
UsageUse the singular bed with a hyphen before a noun: a 200-bed hospital.
Note
23
noun
Soft background music that a radio host talks over during a show.
24
verb
To lay something down flat or in a resting, level position.
Your bedded hair like life in excrements
c. 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”Here, bedded means laid flat and smooth, describing hair lying in place.
25
noun
A single row of bricks or stones laid level across a wall.
26
noun
On a dartboard, one of the scoring sections marked off by thin wires.
27
noun
A wooden support that keeps a barrel off the floor of a ship.
28
noundated
In a printing machine, the flat surface where the type or plates are placed.
29
noun
The flat top or bottom side of a stone used in building.
30
noun
The underneath of a brick, tile or slate, where it rests on the layer below.
31
verb
For deer and other big wild animals, to lie down and rest.
32
verb
To cut and smooth a stone so it lies flat in a wall.
33
verb
For a machine, to settle down firmly in its place.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of bed apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Old English "bedd," meaning a place to rest. It is related to German "Bett" and Dutch "bed."

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

English bed descends from Old English bedd. en.wiktionary.org
Old English bedd meant a bed, supporting the paraphrase a place to rest. en.wiktionary.org
Bed is related to German Bett and Dutch bed. en.wiktionary.org