Word.ws English Dictionary

bed

[beː]/bɛd/

bed noun: a piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep. Also the clipping of bedroom.

bed: a piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep
Image: Basile Morin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

bed (countable and uncountable, plural beds)

  1. (countable) A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
    • My cat often sleeps on my bed.
    • I keep a glass of water next to my bed when I sleep.
    1. (countable) A mattress.
      • I find her bed too soft.
    2. (countable) A bedframe.
      • That huge wood bed is too heavy for us to carry it that far.
    3. A prepared spot in which to spend the night.
      • When camping, he usually makes a bed for the night from hay and a blanket.
    4. (usually) One's place of sleep or rest.
      • Go to bed!
      • I had breakfast in bed this morning.
    5. (uncountable, usually) Sleep; rest; getting to sleep.
      • He's been afraid of bed since he saw the scary film.
    6. (uncountable, usually) The time for going to sleep or resting in bed; bedtime.
      • I read until bed.
    7. (countable) The equipment, staffing, etc., required for a patient in a medical institution.
      • We have a patient who needs a bed right away.
    8. (uncountable) Time spent in a bed.
      • I am quite sure that too much bed, if not too much sleep, is prejudicial, though a certain amount is absolutely necessary.1903, Thomas Stretch Dowse, Lectures on Massage and Electricity in the Treatment of Disease, page 276
      • Some prisoners, indeed, are always up before the bell rings — such was my practice — they prefer to grope about in the dark to tossing about in the utter weariness of too much bed.1907, Jabez Spencer Balfour, My Prison Life, page 181
    9. (figuratively) Marriage.
      • George, the eldest son of his second bed.1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed...
    10. (figuratively, uncountable) Sexual activity.
      • Too much bed, not enough rest.
  2. A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid.
    • The meats and cheeses lay on a bed of lettuce.
    1. (countable) The bottom of a body of water, such as an ocean, sea, lake, or river.
      • sea bed
      • river bed
    2. An area where a large number of oysters, mussels, other sessile shellfish, or a large amount of seaweed is found.
      • Oysters are farmed from their beds.
      • I knew that there were kelp beds and reefs which could rip the bottoms from boats down in Skedans Bay.1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee Wyck
    3. A garden plot.
      • We added a new bush to our rose bed.
      • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like...1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168
    4. A foundation or supporting surface formed of a fluid.
      • A bed of concrete makes a strong subsurface for an asphalt parking lot.
    5. The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.
    6. (Canada, US) The platform of a truck, trailer, wagon, railcar, or other vehicle that supports the load to be hauled.
      • The parcels were loaded onto the truck bed before transportation.
    7. A shaped piece of timber to hold a cask clear of a ship’s floor; a pallet.
    8. (dated) The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.
    9. The flat surface of a scanner on which a document is placed to be scanned.
    10. A piece of music, normally instrumental, over which a radio DJ talks.
    11. Any of the sections of a dartboard with a point value, delimited by a wire.
    12. The taut surface of a trampoline.
      • These 5 judges mark the athlete's staying in the center of the bed, uniformity of bounce heights, and general style.2000, Sports: The Complete Visual Reference
  3. A deposit of ore, coal, etc.
  4. (countable) The smallest division of a geologic formation or stratigraphic rock series marked by well-defined divisional planes (bedding planes) separating it from layers above and below.
    Synonyms:
    layer, stratum
  5. The horizontal surface of a building stone.
    • the upper and lower beds
  6. The lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile.
  7. A course of stone or brick in a wall.

Verb

bed (third-person singular simple present beds, present participle bedding, simple past and past participle bedded)

  1. (intransitive) To go to bed; to put oneself to sleep.
    • I usually listen to music before I bed.
  2. (transitive) To place in a bed.
    • For she was not only publicly contracted, but stated as a bride, and solemnly bedded, and after she was laid, there came in Maximilian's ambassador with letters of procuration1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret...
  3. (transitive) To furnish with a bed or bedding.
  4. (ambitransitive) To have sex (with).
    • And he who lies with another Man's Wife after she is married, even before her Husband had bedded with her, is guilty of Adultery, […]1730, William Forbes, The Institutes of the Law of Scotland, page 121
  5. (intransitive) Of large game animals: to be at rest.
  6. (transitive) To lay or put in any hollow place, or place of rest and security, surrounded or enclosed; to embed.
    • 1810/1835, William Wordsworth, Guide to the Lakes
      Among all chains or clusters of mountains where large bodies of still water are bedded.
    • But I must warn you that chipboard floors are always likely to squeak. The material is still being used in new-builds, but developers now use adhesive to bed and joint it, rather than screws or nails. I suspect the adhesive will eventually embrittle and crack, resulting in the same squeaking...2014 August 17, Jeff Howell, “Home improvements: Repairing and replacing floorboards [print version: Never buy anything from a salesman, 16 August 2014, p. P7]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Property)
  7. (transitive) To set in a soft matrix, as paving stones in sand, or tiles in cement.
  8. (transitive) To set out (plants) in a garden bed.
  9. (transitive) To dress or prepare the surface of (stone) so it can serve as a bed.
  10. (transitive) To lay flat; to lay in order; to place in a horizontal or recumbent position.
    • Your bedded hair like life in excrementsc. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
  11. To settle, as machinery.

Noun (2) capitalized: BED

BED (plural BEDs)

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of B.Ed. (Bachelor of Education).
  2. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of banana equivalent dose.
  3. (abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of binge eating disorder.

Also used as

bed is also the clipping of bedroom.

bed meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

bed in Hindi

piece of furniture
पलंग palaṅg, बिस्तर bistar, शय्या śayyā, सेज sej, बिछौना bichaunā, बिछोना bichonā
bed as general place or concept
पलंग palaṅg, शय्या śayyā
prepared spot to spend the night in
शय्या śayyā
the bottom of a lake or other body of water
तल tal

bed in Tamil

piece of furniture
படுக்கை paṭukkai, கட்டில் kaṭṭil
bed as general place or concept
படுக்கை paṭukkai
flat surface or layer on which something else is to be placed
பரப்பு parappu
prepared spot to spend the night in
படுக்கை paṭukkai

bed in Marathi

piece of furniture
बिछाना bichānā

bed in Urdu

piece of furniture
بِسْتَر bistar, پَلَن٘گ palaṅg
More languagesFewer languages
bed in Bengali
বিছানা bichana, পালং paloṅ
bed in Telugu
పక్క pakka, పడక paḍaka, అడుగు aḍugu
bed in Malayalam
മെത്ത metta
bed in Kannada
ಮಂಚ mañca, ಹಾಸಿಗೆ hāsige
bed in Punjabi
ਬਿਸਤਰਾ bistarā
bed in Gujarati
પલંગ palaṅg, ખાટલો khāṭlo, બિસ્તર bistar, બિછાનું bichānũ
bed in Odia
ଖଟ khaṭa, ପଲଙ୍କ palaṅka
bed in Sanskrit
शय्या śayyā
bed in Sinhala
ඇඳ æⁿda
bed in Assamese
বিচনা bisona, বিছনা bisona, পালেং paleṅ
bed in Nepali
ओछ्यान ochyān, खाट khāṭ
bed in Pashto
لګډ lagad
bed in Tagalog
kama, higaan
bed in Arabic
سَرِير sarīr, فِرَاش firāš, تَخْت taḵt, سرير serīr
bed in Malay
katil, ranjang, dasar, batas
bed in Indonesian
ranjang, tempat tidur
bed in Persian
بِسْتَر bestar, رَخْتِخواب raxtexâb, تَخْتِخواب taxtexâb, تَخْت taxt
bed in Thai
เตียง dtiiang
bed in Vietnamese
giường, lớp, nền, chỗ ngủ
bed in Myanmar
အိပ်ရာ ip-ra
Dzongkha
ཉལ་ཁྲི nyal khri

Examples of bed in a sentence

  • There’s a lot of trash on the bed of the river.
  • This condition is one of the dangers of “too much bed”.1972, James Verney Cable, Principles of Medicine: An Integrated Textbook for Nurses:
  • The material is still being used in new-builds, but developers now use adhesive to bed and joint it, rather than screws or nails.2014 August 17, Jeff Howell, “Home improvements: Repairing and replacing floorboards [print version: Never buy anything from a salesman, 16...

All 40 example sentences with bed

Synonyms of bed

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of bed

Forms of bed

Noun
pluralbeds
pluralBEDs
Verb
third-person singular presentbeds
present participlebedding
past participlebedded
pastbedded

Past tense of bed: bedded

Plural of bed: beds

Origin of bed

Inherited from Middle English bed, bedde, from Old English bedd, from Proto-West Germanic *badi, from Proto-Germanic *badją (“resting-place, plot of ground”). Cognates Cognate with Scots bed, North Frisian baad, beed, Bēr, Saterland Frisian Bääd, West Frisian bêd, Cimbrian pett, Dutch bed, Dutch Low Saxon bedde, German Bett, Bette, German Low German Bedd, Luxembourgish Bett, Vilamovian bet, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål bed, Faroese and Icelandic beð, beður, Norwegian Nynorsk bed, bedd, Swedish bädd, Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌳𐌹 (badi), all meaning “bed”. further possible etymology and cognates The Proto-Germanic term may in turn be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig”) with various theories explaining the development in meaning. If it is, the term is also cognate with Ancient Greek βοθυρος (bothuros, “pit”), Latin fossa (“ditch”), Latvian bedre (“hole”), Welsh bedd (“grave”), Breton bez (“grave”); and probably also Russian бодать (bodatʹ, “to butt, gore”).

Words formed from bed

Phrases with bed

172 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with bed

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about bed

What does bed mean?
Bed means a piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep.
What is bed in Hindi?
Bed in Hindi is पलंग (palaṅg), बिस्तर (bistar), शय्या (śayyā). See Bed meaning in Hindi.
How do you use bed in a sentence?
There’s a lot of trash on the bed of the river.
What part of speech is bed?
Bed can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce bed?
Bed is pronounced /bɛd/ (UK).
What is the plural of bed?
The plural of bed is beds.

Words near bed in the dictionary

  1. becurtoviruses
  2. becushioned
  3. becut
  4. becuts
  5. becuz
  6. bed
  7. bed and board
  8. bed and breakfast
  9. bed and breakfasts
  10. bed bath
  11. bed baths

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bed (page history and authors); BED (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-bed.ogg, En-us-bed.ogg.

Cite this entry: “bed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.