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.-(used as the symbol of matrimony) marriage.-a plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a little raised above the adjoining ground.-a mass or heap of anything arranged like a bed; as, a bed of ashes or coals.-the bottom of a watercourse, or of any body of water; as, the bed of a river.-a layer or seam, or a horizontal stratum between layers; as, a bed of coal, iron, etc.-see gun carriage, and mortar bed.-the horizontal surface of a building stone; as, the upper and lower beds.-a course of stone or brick in a wall.-the place or material in which a block or brick is laid.-the lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile.-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.-the superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.-the flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.-to place in a bed.-to make partaker of one's bed; to cohabit with.-to furnish with a bed or bedding.-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.-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.-to dress or prepare the surface of stone) so as to serve as a bed.-to lay flat; to lay in order; to place in a horizontal or recumbent position.-to go to bed; to cohabit.