cradle
/ˈkɹeɪdəl/
cradle noun: a bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots.
Noun
cradle (plural cradles)
- A bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots.
- No sooner was I crept out of my cradle / But I was made a king, at nine months old.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- the cradle that received thee at thy birth1782, William Cowper, Expostulation
- The place of origin, or in which anything is nurtured or protected in the earlier period of existence.
- a cradle of crime
- the cradle of liberty
- Infancy, or very early life.
- from the cradle to the grave
- from their cradles bred togetherc. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- An implement consisting of a broad scythe for cutting grain, with a set of long fingers parallel to the scythe, designed to receive the grain, and to lay it evenly in a swath.
- A tool used in mezzotint engraving, which, by a rocking motion, raises burrs on the surface of the plate, so as to prepare the ground.
- A framework of timbers, or iron bars, moving upon ways or rollers, used to support, lift, or carry ships or other vessels, heavy guns, etc., as up an inclined plane, or across a strip of land, or in launching a ship.
- A case for a broken or dislocated limb.
- A frame to keep the bedclothes from contact with the sensitive parts of an injured person.
- A machine on rockers, used in washing out auriferous earth.
- Rough men brought pickle bottles full of nuggets. Mysterious dirty-looking calico bags were opened, disclosing small quantities of water-worn flaky gold, which had been washed out of the beds of rivers with a cradle.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 146
- Synonyms:
- rocker
- A suspended scaffold used in shafts.
- A ribbing for vaulted ceilings and arches intended to be covered with plaster.
- A strong iron bar is fixed at the top of each cradle, to which the suspending chains are attached; the latter pass over the sheaves, and the cradles are kept in a horizontal position, by means of an adjusting rod placed above them1853, Samuel Charles Brees, The Illustrated Glossary of Practical Architecture and Civil Engineering
- A basket or apparatus in which, when a line has been made fast to a wrecked ship from the shore, the people are brought off from the wreck.
- The cradle was ill-made. One victim fell into the sea and was lost and the ensuing delay cost three more lives.
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Verb
cradle (third-person singular simple present cradles, present participle cradling, simple past and past participle cradled)
- To contain in or as if in a cradle.
- To rock (a baby to sleep).
- To wrap protectively, to hold gently and protectively.
- cradling the injured man’s head in her arms
- The little girl was left alone in her tiny bedroom, cradling her dead hamster.2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN
- To lull or quieten, as if by rocking.
- To nurse or train in infancy.
- He that hath been cradled in majesty will not leave the throne to play with beggars.1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC
- But are the Jewish people a nation? For two thousand years, they have been rent from the physical homeland that cradled their youth; they have been scattered over the entire earth; they have been influenced by almost every climate, culture, and nation, constituting a small minority in each country.1929, Abraham Zevi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, page 357
- To rock the lacrosse stick back and forth in order to keep the ball in the head by means of centrifugal force.
- To cut and lay (grain) with a cradle.
- To transport a vessel by means of a cradle.
- Edward H[enry] Knight (1877), “Cradle”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC: “In Lombardy […] boats are cradled and transported over the grade.”
- To put ribs across the back of (a picture), to prevent the panels from warping.
cradle meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
cradle in Hindi
- oscillating bed for a baby
- पालना pālnā, खटोला khaṭolā, झूला jhūlā
cradle in Tamil
- oscillating bed for a baby
- தொட்டில் toṭṭil
cradle in Marathi
- cradle
- पाळणा pāḷṇā
cradle in Urdu
- oscillating bed for a baby
- پالْنا pālnā, کَھٹولا khaṭolā, مَہْد mahd, جُھولا jhūlā, گہوارہ gahvāra
More languagesFewer languages
- cradle in Bengali
- ঝুলনা jhulna, দোলনা dōlna
- cradle in Telugu
- తొట్ల toṭla
- cradle in Malayalam
- തൊട്ടിൽ toṭṭil
- cradle in Kannada
- ತೊಟ್ಟಿಲು toṭṭilu
- cradle in Punjabi
- ਪੰਘੂਡ਼ਾ
- cradle in Gujarati
- પાલખ pālakh, માંચી mā̃cī
- cradle in Nepali
- क्रेडल
- cradle in Pashto
- زانګو zāngo, زنګويه zangoya, پينګو pingo, پېنګو pengo
- cradle in Arabic
- مَهْد mahd
- cradle in Malay
- buaian
- cradle in Indonesian
- buaian
- cradle in Thai
- อู่ ùu, เปล bplee
- cradle in Vietnamese
- nôi
- cradle in Myanmar
- ပုခက် pu.hkak
Examples of cradle in a sentence
- Hush-a-by, baby, upon the tree-top; / When the wind blows the cradle will rock; / When the bough breaks the cradle will fall; / Down will come cradle and baby and all.1805, Songs for the Nursery, page 5:
- a form of worship in which they had been educated from their cradle1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in...
Synonyms of cradle
Forms of cradle
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | cradles |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | cradles |
| present participle | cradling |
| past participle | cradled |
| past | cradled |
Origin of cradle
From Middle English cradel, credel, from Old English cradol, from Proto-West Germanic *kradul, from Proto-Germanic *kradulaz, from Proto-Germanic *kradô (“(wicker) basket”). Related to cart.
Words formed from cradle
- babe-in-a-cradle
- cat's cradle
- cradleboard
- cradle cap
- cradle crust
- cradleful
- cradle hole
- cradlehood
- cradleland
- cradle leg
- cradleless
- cradlelike
- cradlemaker
- cradlemaking
- cradleman
- cradlemate
- cradle of civilization
- cradler
- cradle-robber
- cradle robber
- cradleside
- cradle-snatch
- cradle snatch
- cradle snatcher
- cradlesome
- cradlesong
- cradle song
- cradle-to-cradle design
- cradle-to-grave
- cradle walk
- encradle
- the cradle to the grave
- Judas cradle
- Newton's cradle
- rob the cradle
- sea cradle
- the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
- uncradle
- uncradled
Phrases with cradle
Words that rhyme with cradle
Questions about cradle
- What does cradle mean?
- Cradle means a bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots.
- What is cradle in Hindi?
- Cradle in Hindi is पालना (pālnā), खटोला (khaṭolā), झूला (jhūlā). See Cradle meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use cradle in a sentence?
- Hush-a-by, baby, upon the tree-top; / When the wind blows the cradle will rock; / When the bough breaks the cradle will fall; / Down will come cradle and baby and all.
- What part of speech is cradle?
- Cradle can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce cradle?
- Cradle is pronounced /ˈkɹeɪdəl/.
- What is the plural of cradle?
- The plural of cradle is cradles.
Words near cradle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cradle (page history and authors); पाळणा (Marathi) (page history and authors); తొట్ల (Telugu) (page history and authors); cradle (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); પાલખ (Gujarati) (page history and authors); cradle (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cradle.wav.
Cite this entry: “cradle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cradle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.