English Explanatory Dictionary

cradle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots.
  2. The place of origin, or in which anything is nurtured or protected in the earlier period of existence.
  3. Infancy, or very early life.
  4. An implement consisting of a broad scythe for cutting grain, with a set of long fingers parallel to the scythe, designed to receive the grain, and to lay it evenly in a swath.
  5. A tool used in mezzotint engraving, which, by a rocking motion, raises burrs on the surface of the plate, so as to prepare the ground.
  6. A framework of timbers, or iron bars, moving upon ways or rollers, used to support, lift, or carry ships or other vessels, heavy guns, etc., as up an inclined plane, or across a strip of land, or in launching a ship.
  7. A case for a broken or dislocated limb.
  8. A frame to keep the bedclothes from contact with the sensitive parts of an injured person.
  9. A machine on rockers, used in washing out auriferous earth.
  10. A suspended scaffold used in shafts.
  11. A ribbing for vaulted ceilings and arches intended to be covered with plaster.
  12. A basket or apparatus in which, when a line has been made fast to a wrecked ship from the shore, the people are brought off from the wreck.
verb
  1. To contain in or as if in a cradle.
  2. To rock (a baby to sleep).
  3. To wrap protectively, to hold gently and protectively.
  4. To lull or quieten, as if by rocking.
  5. To nurse or train in infancy.
  6. To rock the lacrosse stick back and forth in order to keep the ball in the head by means of centrifugal force.
  7. To cut and lay (grain) with a cradle.
  8. To transport a vessel by means of a cradle.
  9. To put ribs across the back of (a picture), to prevent the panels from warping.

Pronunciation

krāʹdəl /ˈkɹeɪdəl/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cradle.wav

Word forms

cradle cradles cradling cradled

Etymology

From Middle English cradel, credel, from Old English cradol, from Proto-West Germanic *kradul, from Proto-Germanic *kradulaz, from Proto-Germanic *kradô (“(wicker) basket”). Related to cart.

Synonyms

rocker rest

Related words

crib

Derived words

babe-in-a-cradle cat's cradle cradleboard cradle cap cradle crust cradleful cradle hole cradlehood cradleland cradle leg cradleless cradlelike cradlemaker cradlemaking cradleman cradlemate cradle of civilization cradler cradle-robber cradle robber cradleside cradle-snatch cradle snatch cradle snatcher cradlesome cradlesong cradle song cradle-to-cradle design cradle-to-grave cradle walk encradle the cradle to the grave Judas cradle Newton's cradle rob the cradle sea cradle the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world uncradle uncradled
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