BECK, bek, _n._ a sign with the finger or head: a nod: (_Scot._) a gesture
of salutation.--_v.i._ to make such a sign.--_v.t._ to call by a nod.--AT
ONE'S BECK, subject to one's will. [A contr. of BECKON.]
BECKET, bek'et, _n._ (_naut._) a loop of rope having a knot at one end and
an eye at the other: a large hook, or a wooden bracket used to keep loose
tackle or spars in a convenient place. [Prob. Dut. _bogt_, _bocht_, a
'bend' of rope.]
BECKON, bek'n, _v.t._ to nod or make a sign to. [A.S. _bíecnan_--_béacn_, a
sign. See BEACON.]
BECLOUD, be-klowd', _v.t._ to obscure by clouds: to dim.
BECOME, be-kum', _v.i._ to pass from one state to another: to come to be:
to be the fate or end of (followed by _of_).--_v.t._ to suit or befit, to
grace or adorn fittingly (with _dat._ object):--_pa.t._ bec[=a]me'; _pa.p._
become'.--_adj._ BECOM'ING, suitable to: graceful.--_adv._
BECOM'INGLY.--_n._ BECOM'INGNESS. [A.S. _becuman_. See COME.]
BECURL, be-kurl', _v.t._ to curl.
BED, bed, _n._ a couch or place to sleep on: a plot in a garden: a place in
which anything rests, in carpentry, architecture, &c.: conjugal union, the
marriage-bed, matrimonial rights and duties: the channel of a river:
(_geol._) a layer or stratum.--_v.t._ to place in bed, as a couple after a
wedding: to provide a bed, or to make a bed, for: to sow or plant: to lay
in layers.--_v.i._ to cohabit or use the same bed with another:--_pr.p._
bed'ding; _pa.p._ bed'ded.--_ns._ BED'CHAMBER (see BED'ROOM); BED'DING, a
collective name for the mattress, bed-clothes, &c., also litter for
cattle.--_adj._ BED'FAST, confined to bed.--_ns._ BED'FELLOW, a sharer of
the same bed; BED'MAKER, the name at Cambridge and elsewhere for those who
make the beds and sweep the rooms in college; BED'-OF-HON'OUR, the grave of
a soldier who has fallen in battle; BED'-OF-JUS'TICE (Fr. _lit. de
justice_), the king's throne in the Parlement of Paris, also a sitting at
which the king was present, chiefly for the registration of his own
decrees; BED'PLATE (_mech._), the foundation plate of an engine, lathe,
&c.; BED'POST, a post forming an angle of a bedstead, often in former days
high enough to support a canopy; BED'PRESSER (_Shak._), a heavy, lazy
fellow.--_adjs._ BED'RID, BED'RIDDEN, confined to bed by age or sickness:
worn out.--_ns._ BED'RIGHT (_Shak._), the privilege of the marriage-bed;
BED'ROCK, the solid rock underneath superficial formations; BED'ROOM, a
room in which there is a bed: a sleeping apartment--_Bedchamber_ was the
earlier form.--_n.pl._ BED'-SORES, painful ulcers that often arise in a
long confinement to bed, esp. over the bony prominences of the body--the
lower parts of the spine, the haunch bones, the heel, and the elbow.--_ns._
BED'-STAFF, a staff or stick formerly used about a bed, in old times a
handy weapon, whence perhaps the phrase, 'in the twinkling of a bed-staff;'
BED'STEAD, a frame for supporting a bed; BED'STRAW, the name applied to a
genus of the Rubiaceæ, of which eleven species are found in England, the
most familiar our Lady's Bedstraw, or Yellow Bedstraw (_Galium verum_),
sometimes called Cheese Rennet from its property of curdling milk;
BED'SWERVER (_Shak._), one who is false to his marriage vow; BED'TICK, the
case in which feathers, hair, chaff, &c. are put for bedding.--_adv._
BED'WARD, in the direction of bed: towards bedtime.--_n._ BED'WORK
(_Shak._), work easily performed, as if done in bed.--BED AND BOARD, food
and lodging: full connubial relations; BED OF DOWN, or ROSES, any easy or
comfortable place.--LORDS OF THE BEDCHAMBER, twelve officers in the British
royal household who wait in turn upon the sovereign's person; in the reign
of a queen the office is performed by ladies.--TO BE BROUGHT TO BED, to be
confined in child-birth (with _of_); TO KEEP ONE'S BED, to remain in bed;
TO LIE IN THE BED ONE HAS MADE, to have to accept the consequences of one's
own conduct; TO MAKE A BED, to put a bed in order after it has been used.
[A.S. _bed_; Ger. _bett_, Ice. _bedr_.]