make the bed Definition

bed
noun

1. A piece of furniture for sleeping on, generally a wooden and/or metal frame with a mattress and coverings, etc on it.

Thesaurus: sack (slang), cot, mattress, bunk, pallet, couch, chaise, berth, hay (slang).
2. A place in which anything (eg an animal) sleeps or rests.
3. colloq
Sleep or rest.
Example: ready for bed
4. The bottom of a river, lake or sea.
5. An area of ground in a garden, for growing plants. Often in compounds.

Example: rose-bed
Thesaurus: garden, patch, strip, area, plot, row.
6. A flat surface or base, especially one made of slate, brick or tile, on which something can be supported or laid down.
7. A layer or stratum, eg of oysters, sedimentary rock, etc.
8. colloq
Sexual intercourse; marital relations.
Example: All he ever thinks about is bed
9. A place available for occupancy in a residential home, nursing home or hospital.

verb bedded, bedding

tr & intr
1. To go to bed, or put someone in bed or in a place to sleep.

Example: bedded down on the sofa
Form: bed down (usually)
Form: bed someone down
2. To plant it in the soil, in a garden, etc.

Form: bed something out (usually)
3. To place or fix something firmly.

Example: Its base was bedded in concrete
Thesaurus: embed, implant, plant, insert, ground, fasten, fix, root, settle.
4. colloq
To have sexual intercourse with someone.
tr & intr
5. To arrange something in or to form, layers.

Derivative: bed of roses

See separate entry.

Idiom: get out of bed on the wrong side

colloq
To start the day in a bad mood.

Idiom: go to bed

Said of a newspaper or magazine, etc: to go to press.

Idiom: go to bed with someone

colloq
To have sexual intercourse with them.

Idiom: in bed with someone or something

colloq
In close involvement or collusion with (a person, organization, company, etc).

Idiom: make one's bed and have to lie in it

To have to accept the disadvantages or problems that result from one's own actions or past decisions.

Idiom: make the bed

To make the bedclothes tidy after the bed has been slept in.

Idiom: put something to bed

To send (a newspaper or magazine, etc) to press.

Idiom: take to one's bed

To go to bed and remain there, because of illness, grief, etc.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon bedd.