cradle

Meanings

Plural: cradles

Noun

• a baby bed with sides and rockers
• where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence
• birth of a person
  • "he was taught from the cradle never to cry"
• a trough that can be rocked back and forth; used by gold miners to shake auriferous earth in water in order to separate the gold
• A bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots.
• The place of origin, or in which anything is nurtured or protected in the earlier period of existence.
• Infancy, or very early life.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• A case for a broken or dislocated limb.
• A frame to keep the bedclothes from contact with the sensitive parts of an injured person.
• A machine on rockers, used in washing out auriferous earth.
• A suspended scaffold used in shafts.
• A ribbing for vaulted ceilings and arches intended to be covered with plaster.
• 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.
• A rest for the receiver of a telephone, or for certain computer hardware.
• A hand position allowing a contact ball to be held steadily on the back of the hand.
• A mechanical device for tilting and decanting a bottle of wine.

Verb

• hold gently and carefully
  • "He cradles the child in his arms"
• bring up from infancy
• hold or place in or as if in a cradle
  • "He cradled the infant in his arms"
• cut grain with a cradle scythe
• wash in a cradle
  • "cradle gold"
• run with the stick
• To contain in or as if in a cradle.
• To rock (a baby to sleep).
• To wrap protectively, to hold gently and protectively.
• To lull or quieten, as if by rocking.
• To nurse or train in infancy.
• To rock the lacrosse stick back and forth in order to keep the ball in the head by means of centrifugal force.
• To cut and lay (grain) with a cradle.
• To transport a vessel by means of a cradle.
• To put ribs across the back of (a picture), to prevent the panels from warping.

Synonyms

birthplace, place of origin, provenance, provenience, rest, rocker

Related Words

crib