# cradle

Pronunciation: US say "KRAY-duhl" /ˈkɹeɪdəl/; UK

## Noun

1. A small bed for a baby that rocks on curved supports or swings on pivots.
   - Simple: A small bed for a baby that can rock or swing gently.
   - _She rocked the cradle with one foot while she read._
   - _The antique cradle hung between two carved posts and swung at the lightest touch._
4. The place where something began, or where it was nurtured and protected in its earliest days.
   - Simple: The place where something first started and grew.
   - _Mesopotamia is often called the cradle of civilization._
   - _The old port city became a cradle of jazz, sending its musicians all over the country._
6. A rest that holds a telephone receiver, or a similar stand for certain computer hardware.
   - Simple: The part of a phone where you rest the handset, or a stand for some computer devices.
   - _He set the receiver back in its cradle and stared at the wall._
   - _At the end of each shift, the handheld scanners go back into their charging cradles._
7. Infancy, or the earliest part of a person's life.
   - Simple: The time when someone is a baby or very young.
   - _She had been taught to play the violin practically from the cradle._
   - _The new welfare system promised to support citizens from the cradle to the grave._
10. A frame placed over an injured person in bed to keep the bedclothes off sensitive parts of the body.
   - Simple: A frame in a bed that keeps the sheets from touching a hurt part of the body.
   - _After surgery, a wire cradle kept the blankets off his bandaged knee._
   - _The burns unit kept several bed cradles ready for new patients._
11. A protective case that holds a broken or dislocated limb in place.
   - Simple: A case that holds and protects an arm or leg that is broken or out of place.
   - _The medic strapped the broken leg into a padded cradle for the ride to the hospital._
   - _Once the dislocated arm was put back, it rested in a light cradle while it healed._
12. A framework of timber or iron bars running on ways or rollers, used to support, lift, or move ships, heavy guns, and similar loads, as in launching.
   - Simple: A strong frame on rollers used to hold and move ships or other very heavy things.
   - _At the launch, the new ship slid down the slipway on its cradle and into the river._
   - _Soldiers hauled the heavy gun up the steep ramp to the fort on a cradle of timbers._
14. A mechanical device that holds a bottle of wine and tilts it so the wine can be decanted.
   - Simple: A machine that slowly tips a bottle of wine so the wine can be poured out.
   - _The sommelier set the vintage port in the cradle and turned the crank, tilting the bottle toward the decanter by degrees._
   - _Collectors use a cradle so the sediment stays behind when an old wine is poured off._
15. A basket or similar apparatus that carries people off a wrecked ship along a line made fast between the wreck and the shore.
   - Simple: A basket or similar device that travels along a rope from a wrecked ship to the shore, carrying people to safety.
   - _Lifesavers hauled the cradle out along the line and brought the passengers back two at a time._
   - _Once the rope was secured to the stranded ship, the crew were brought ashore in a cradle._
17. A broad scythe for cutting grain, with long fingers set parallel to the blade that catch the cut grain and lay it evenly in a swath.
   - Simple: A wide-bladed tool for cutting grain, with long fingers that catch the stalks and lay them in neat rows.
   - _Farmhands with cradles worked across the field in a staggered line, leaving swaths of wheat behind them._
   - _The old cradle hanging in the barn still had every one of its long wooden fingers._
19. A tool used in mezzotint engraving that is rocked across the plate, raising burrs on its surface to prepare the ground.
   - Simple: A tool that is rocked back and forth over a printing plate to make it rough for a mezzotint.
   - _She worked the cradle over the copper plate in overlapping passes until the whole surface was evenly roughened._
   - _The printmaker sharpened the teeth of her cradle before starting a new plate._
20. A machine set on rockers, used for washing gold-bearing earth to separate out the gold.
   - Simple: A machine that rocks from side to side to wash dirt and find the gold in it.
   - _The prospectors took turns rocking the cradle while one of them poured in buckets of creek water._
   - _By evening the cradle had yielded only a thimbleful of fine gold._
21. A scaffold suspended in a mine shaft as a platform to work from.
   - Simple: A platform that hangs in a mine shaft for workers to stand on.
   - _Two timbermen worked from a cradle hung halfway down the shaft, replacing rotten supports._
   - _The winch operator raised the cradle a few feet so the crew could reach the next set of bolts._
22. A framework of ribs for a vaulted ceiling or arch, built to be covered with plaster.
   - Simple: A frame of curved strips that gives an arched ceiling its shape, made to be covered with plaster.
   - _The carpenters fixed the cradle for the vaulted ceiling before the plasterers arrived._
   - _When the old plaster fell away, the wooden cradle behind the arch was exposed._
23. A hand position in which a contact ball rests steadily on the back of the hand.
   - Simple: A way of holding your hand so a juggling ball sits still on the back of it.
   - _From a palm spin, he let the ball roll over his knuckles and settle into a cradle._
   - _Holding a steady cradle is one of the first skills new contact jugglers practice._

## Verb

2. To hold or wrap something gently and protectively.
   - Simple: To hold something gently and carefully to keep it safe.
   - _He sat on the curb, cradling his injured wrist against his chest._
   - _Collectors cradle the old manuscripts in soft cloth before moving them._
3. To hold or contain something in a cradle, or as if in one.
   - Simple: To hold something in a cradle, or in a shape like one.
   - _A ring of mountains cradles the lake on three sides._
   - _Padded arms on the stand cradle the guitar so it cannot tip over._
5. To rock a baby gently until it falls asleep.
   - Simple: To move a baby gently from side to side so it goes to sleep.
   - _Every night she would cradle the twins to sleep, humming as she rocked them._
   - _The grandmother cradled the fussy infant to sleep in her old rocking chair._
8. To lull or calm someone, as if by rocking them.
   - Simple: To make someone calm and quiet, as if you were rocking them.
   - _The slow rhythm of the waves cradled her into a dreamless sleep._
   - _Low, steady voices can cradle frightened children into silence._
9. To nurse or bring up a child, shaping them from infancy.
   - Simple: To care for and teach a child from the time they are a baby.
   - _The couple hoped to cradle their daughter in the old faith, teaching her its prayers before she could walk._
   - _Cradled in privilege, the young heir had never once worried about money._
13. To transport a boat or ship by carrying it on a cradle.
   - Simple: To move a boat or ship by setting it on a cradle, a strong frame that carries it.
   - _Canal crews cradle each barge and haul it up the incline to the upper channel._
   - _The fishing boats were cradled and dragged across the narrow neck of land between the two bays._
16. In lacrosse, to rock the stick back and forth so that centrifugal force keeps the ball in its head.
   - Simple: In lacrosse, to rock your stick back and forth so the ball stays in the head of the stick.
   - _Lacrosse beginners often cradle too hard and lose the ball on their first stride._
   - _A defender checked his stick the moment he stopped cradling._
18. To cut grain and lay it down with a cradle.
   - Simple: To cut grain with a cradle, a wide blade with long fingers, and lay it on the ground.
   - _Neighbors gathered each July to help cradle the oats on the hillside fields._
   - _He cradled the rye in long, even strokes and left it lying in swaths to dry._
24. To fix ribs across the back of a panel painting to keep its panels from warping.
   - Simple: To fix strips across the back of a painting on wooden boards to stop the boards from bending.
   - _Conservators decided to cradle the altarpiece after its oak boards began to bow._
   - _A nineteenth-century restorer cradled the portrait, gluing a lattice of wooden bars to its back._

## Origin

From Middle English cradel, from Old English cradol, from Proto-West Germanic *kradul, from Proto-Germanic *kradulaz, from *kradô ("(wicker) basket"). It is related to cart.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/cradle (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).