bedding

bed down

1. To get into bed and go to sleep. After taking exams all week, I can't wait to bed down tonight. I have to get up early for work tomorrow, so I think I'd better bed down now. Alison already bedded down for the night, but I got up for a midnight snack. What are you doing coming home so late?

2. To put someone, typically a baby or child, into bed. Please be quiet, I just bedded down the baby. Have you ever bedded down a toddler before? That's a fun, hours-long process. Don't worry, I bedded down the baby after giving her a bottle.

3. To provide someone with a bed or the space and materials for sleeping. If it gets late, we can just bed down Tony and Gina in the spare bedroom. Don't worry, I'll bed down Grandma in the guest room. Please bed down the kids before it gets any later!

4. To cover or secure something as a means of protection. With this storm coming, we have to be sure to bed down our crops. A spring frost is expected, so we better bed down the flowers. How are we supposed to bed down that rickety old shed before the tornado hits?

See also: bed, down

bed down (some place)

To sleep somewhere. Hey, since it's so late, can I bed down in your spare bedroom? I found a hotel with a vacancy, so we can bed down there for the night. If our flight's been canceled, what are we supposed to do overnight—bed down on the airport floor?

See also: bed, down

bed out

1. To uproot and replant tropical or annual plants from indoor growing locations to outdoor flower beds, especially those laid out in ostentatious shapes and patterns. Usually used in gerunds. Bedding out was all the rage in Victorian England, though it has been seeing a resurgence of interest recently. Soon, it will be warm enough to bed out all of these flowers. My grandmother was very good at bedding out tropical plants, but I don't have much of a green thumb.

2. To make a bed for oneself in some location. On warm nights like these, we like to bed out with the herd beneath the stars. Good luck convincing a toddler to take a nap, but once they're totally exhausted, they can bed out anywhere. You can bed out in the backyard if you want, but I can't give up air conditioning, even if just for one night.

See also: bed, out

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

bed down

(for something) to lie down to sleep for a period of time. After she had bedded down for the night, the telephone rang. All the chickens bedded down hours ago.

See also: bed, down

bed (someone or something) down (some place)

to put someone or something into a bed or on bedding some place. We bedded the kids down on mattresses on the floor. We bedded down the horses for the night.

See also: bed, down

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

bed down

v.

1. To lie down to sleep: I'm about to bed down for the night.

2. To furnish someone with a bed or sleeping quarters: We bedded down our guests in the den. The army bedded down the troops in a temporary shelter.

3. To put someone or something securely to bed: The parents bed down their children every night by reading them a story. We bedded the baby down early tonight.

4. To secure or protect something, especially by covering or enclosing it: To keep the roots of the plants healthy, bed them down in the winter with an inch of soil. We bedded down our equipment under some leaves while we explored the surrounding woods.

See also: bed, down

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.