BUNDLING. "A man and a woman lying on the same bed with their
clothes on; an expedient practiced in America on a scarcity of
beds, where, on such occasions, husbands and parents frequently
permitted travellers to _bundle_ with their wives and
daughters."--_Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_.
BUNDLE, _v.i._ "To sleep on the same bed without undressing;
applied to the custom of a man and woman, especially lovers, thus
sleeping."--_Webster, 1864_.
BUNDLE, _v.n._ "To sleep together with the clothes
on."--_Worcester, 1864_.
Bundling, as may be seen from the above quoted definitions, was
practiced in two forms: first, between _strangers_, as a simple domestic
make-shift arrangement, often arising from the necessities of a new
country, and by no means peculiar to America; and, secondly, between
_lovers_, who shared the same couch, with the mutual understanding that
innocent endearments should not be exceeded. It was, however, in either
case, a custom of convenience.
We may notice, in this connection, that it is very common, even at the
present day, in New England, to speak of one as having "bundled in with
his clothes on," if he goes to bed without undressing; as, for instance,
if he came home drunk, or feeling slightly ill, lay down in the daytime,
or in a cold night found the blankets too scanty.
The point which first claims our attention in the discussion of this
custom, is its probable _origin_, and its _antiquity_ in