1. [n]  a piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep; "he sat on the edge of the bed"; "the room had only a bed and chair"
2. [n]  a plot of ground in which plants are growing; "the gardener planted a bed of roses"
3. [n]  a foundation of earth or rock supporting a road or railroad track; "the track bed had washed away"
4. [n]  a stratum of ore or coal thick enough to be mined with profit; "he worked in the coal beds"
5. [n]  a depression forming the ground under a body of water; "he searched for treasure on the ocean bed"
6. [n]  (geology) a stratum of rock (especially sedimentary rock); "they found a bed of standstone"
7. [v]  have sexual intercourse with; "This student sleeps with everyone in her dorm"; "Adam knew Eve" (know is archaic); "Were you ever intimate with this man?"
8. [v]  put to bed; "The children were bedded at ten o'clock"
9. [v]  furnish with a bed; "The inn keeper could bed all the new arrivals"

1. \Bed\, n. [AS. bed, bedd; akin to OS. bed, D. bed, bedde,
   Icel. be?r, Dan. bed, Sw. b["a]dd, Goth. badi, OHG. betti, G.
   bett, bette, bed, beet a plat of ground; all of uncertain
   origin.]
   1. An article of furniture to sleep or take rest in or on; a
      couch. Specifically: A sack or mattress, filled with some
      soft material, in distinction from the bedstead on which
      it is placed (as, a feather bed), or this with the
      bedclothes added. In a general sense, any thing or place
      used for sleeping or reclining on or in, as a quantity of
      hay, straw, leaves, or twigs.
   
            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.
   
   

2. \Bed\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Bedded}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Bedding}.]
   1. To place in a bed. [Obs.] --Bacon.
   
   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.
   
   

3. \Bed\, v. i.
   To go to bed; to cohabit.
   
         If he be married, and bed with his wife. --Wiseman.
   
   

1. The ground at the bottom of the river.
2. The earth below any body of water, limited laterally by bank or shore.

(Heb. mittah), for rest at night (Ex. 8:3; 1 Sam. 19:13, 15, 16, etc.); during sickness (Gen. 47:31; 48:2; 49:33, etc.); as a sofa for rest (1 Sam. 28:23; Amos 3:12). Another Hebrew word (er'es) so rendered denotes a canopied bed, or a bed with curtains (Deut. 3:11; Ps. 132:3), for sickness (Ps. 6:6; 41:3).

In the New Testament it denotes sometimes a litter with a coverlet (Matt. 9:2, 6; Luke 5:18; Acts 5:15).

The Jewish bedstead was frequently merely the divan or platform along the sides of the house, sometimes a very slight portable frame, sometimes only a mat or one or more quilts. The only material for bed-clothes is mentioned in 1 Sam. 19:13. Sleeping in the open air was not uncommon, the sleeper wrapping himself in his outer garment (Ex. 22:26,27; Deut. 24:12,13).