noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A device used to support a person sitting up in bed. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   confinement to bed continuously (as in the case of some sick or injured persons) wordnet
3. 3
   Confinement to bed, often under instructions of a physician, in order to recover from an injury, an illness, or the frailty associated with other physical discomforts such as a difficult pregnancy. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

bed rest

Etymology

From Middle English bædræste, from Old English bedrest, beddrest, equivalent to bed + rest.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.