Bed

(bed.) [A.S.] An article of furniture on which the body is stretched and composed for rest or sleep, and consisting generally of a sack containing something more or le soft; raised from the floor on a framework of various materials called a bedstead. The word bed is also applied to any hollow base on which anything rests; as, the bed of a mortar.-(Mech.) The firm or fixed portion of a piece of machinery, upon which the working parts rest; as, the bed ofa lathe.-(Law.) The bed of a river is the bottom of a channel in which the stream or current usually flows.- (Masonry.) The beds of a stone form the two surfaces which generally intersect the face of the work in horizontal lines, or in lines nearly so; the higher surface is known as the upper bed, and the lower the under-bed. In ordinary walling, they are the two surfaces which are set level in the building. [s. 83]