bedstead
(ˈbɛdstɛd)
[see stead.]
Strictly, the place occupied by a bed; but long ago transferred to the wooden or metal stand on which a bed is raised; the framework of a bed.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 28 Bedstede, stratum. 1530 Palsgr. 197/1 Bedde stede, chalit. 1535 Coverdale Song Sol. iii. 7 Aboute Salomons bedsteade there stonde LX. valeaunt men. 1611 Bible Deut. iii. 11 Behold, his bedsted was a bedsted of yron. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. viii. (1626) 167 A homely bed-steed made of willow. 1713 Swift Fr. J. Denny Wks. 1755 III. i. 145 We bound our lunatick..down to the bedsted. 1872 Yeats Techn. Hist. Comm. 352 Celebrated for its bedsteads of cast iron. |