And made for him [a horse] a leafy bed. --Byron.
I wash, wring, brew, bake, . . . make the beds.
--Shak.
In bed he slept not for my urging it. --Shak.
2. (Used as the symbol of matrimony) Marriage.
George, the eldest son of his second bed.
--Clarendon.
3. A plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a
little raised above the adjoining ground. ``Beds of
hyacinth and roses.'' --Milton.
4. A mass or heap of anything arranged like a bed; as, a bed
of ashes or coals.
5. The bottom of a watercourse, or of any body of water; as,
the bed of a river.
So sinks the daystar in the ocean bed. --Milton.
6. (Geol.) A layer or seam, or a horizontal stratum between
layers; as, a bed of coal, iron, etc.
7. (Gun.) See {Gun carriage}, and {Mortar bed}.
8. (Masonry)
(a) The horizontal surface of a building stone; as, the
upper and lower beds.
(b) A course of stone or brick in a wall.
(c) The place or material in which a block or brick is
laid.
(d) The lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile.
--Knight.
9. (Mech.) The foundation or the more solid and fixed part or
framing of a machine; or a part on which something is laid
or supported; as, the bed of an engine.
10. The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.
11. (Printing) The flat part of the press, on which the form
is laid.
Note: Bed is much used adjectively or in combination; as, bed
key or bedkey; bed wrench or bedwrench; bedchamber;
bedmaker, etc.
{Bed of justice} (French Hist.), the throne (F. lit bed)
occupied by the king when sitting in one of his
parliaments (judicial courts); hence, a session of a
refractory parliament, at which the king was present for
the purpose of causing his decrees to be registered.
{To be brought to bed}, to be delivered of a child; -- often
followed by of; as, to be brought to bed of a son.
{To make a bed}, to prepare a bed; to arrange or put in order
a bed and its bedding.
{From bed and board} (Law), a phrase applied to a separation
by partial divorce of man and wife, without dissolving the
bonds of matrimony. If such a divorce (now commonly called
a judicial separation) be granted at the instance of the
wife, she may have alimony.
If he be married, and bed with his wife. --Wiseman.
2. To make partaker of one's bed; to cohabit with.
I'll to the Tuscan wars, and never bed her. --Shak.
3. To furnish with a bed or bedding.
4. To plant or arrange in beds; to set, or cover, as in a bed
of soft earth; as, to bed the roots of a plant in mold.
5. To lay or put in any hollow place, or place of rest and
security, surrounded or inclosed; to embed; to furnish
with or place upon a bed or foundation; as, to bed a
stone; it was bedded on a rock.
Among all chains or clusters of mountains where
large bodies of still water are bedded.
--Wordsworth.
6. (Masonry) To dress or prepare the surface of stone) so as
to serve as a bed.
7. To lay flat; to lay in order; to place in a horizontal or
recumbent position. ``Bedded hair.'' --Shak.