1 a : a piece of furniture that people sleep on [count] ▪ The room contains only a bed and a dresser. ▪ There are two beds in the hotel room. ▪ a hospital bed ▪ a single bed [=a bed for one person] ▪ a double bed [=a bed for two people] ▪ He lay on the bed [=on top of the sheets, blankets, and bedspread] for a long time. ▪ Don't forget to make the bed. [=to neatly arrange the sheets, blankets, and bedspread on the bed so that the mattress is covered] ▪ He became ill and took to his bed. [=he went to lie in bed for a long time] [noncount] ▪ She usually goes to bed [=lies down in her bed to sleep] around 11:00. ▪ It's time to get out of bed. [=get up] ▪ He lay/stayed in bed all morning. ▪ The kids like to hear a story before bed. [=before they go to sleep] ▪ Have you put the children to bed? [=have you prepared the children to go to sleep and put them in their beds?] ▪ Come on, children. It's time for bed. [=bedtime, time to sleep]
b [count] : something that is used to sleep on
▪ The blanket by the fireplace is the dog's bed. ▪ Her bed was a mound of soft pine needles. — see also deathbed, sickbed, sunbed, water bed 2 — used in phrases that describe having sexual relations ◊Someone who is good in bed is a skillful lover. When two people are in bed, they are in the act of having sex.
▪ She caught her husband and his secretary in bed together. = She caught her husband in bed with his secretary. To go to bed with someone is to have sex with someone. ▪ She likes him as a friend, but she's not interested in going to bed with him. To get someone into bed is to get someone to have sex with you. ▪ He has fantasies about getting a fashion model into bed. Phrases like these are also used figuratively. ▪ a politician who is accused of being in bed with the oil industry [=of having an improperly close relationship with the oil industry] ▪ The Communists and the Fascists got into bed with each other [=joined forces] to keep the liberals out of power. 3 [count] : a small area of ground specially prepared for plants
▪ I'm planning on putting a bed of perennials in that corner of the yard. ▪ a bed of flowers — see also bed of roses, flower bed, seedbed 4 [count] a : a flat pile or layer of something
▪ a bed of coals
b : a flat pile or layer of food that is placed on a dish with other food on top of it
▪ grilled fish served on a bed of greens ▪ a bed of rice 5 [count] a : the ground that is at the bottom of a sea, lake, etc.
▪ seaweed growing on the ocean bed [=floor]
b : an area of shallow water where something grows
▪ an oyster bed [=an area where there are many oysters] — see also riverbed, seabed 6 [count] technical : a layer of rock or some other material from inside the earth
▪ fossil beds ▪ a bed of shale 7 [count] : the platform or box in the back of some kinds of trucks
▪ the bed of the truck ▪ We loaded the equipment and put a cover over the truck bed. — see also flatbed