cradle

[kreyd-l]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cradle ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a small bed for an infant, usually on rockers.

any of various supports for objects set horizontally, as the support for the handset of a telephone.

the place where anything is nurtured during its early existence: Boston was the cradle of the American Revolution.

Agriculture.

a frame of wood with a row of long curved teeth projecting above and parallel to a scythe, for laying grain in bunches as it is cut.
a scythe together with the cradle in which it is set.

a wire or wicker basket used to hold a wine bottle in a more or less horizontal position while the wine is being served.

Artillery. the part of a gun carriage on which a recoiling gun slides.

a landing platform for ferryboats, rolling on inclined tracks to facilitate loading and unloading at different water levels.

Aeronautics. a docklike structure in which a rigid or semirigid airship is built or is supported during inflation.

Automotive. creeper(def 6).

Nautical.

a shaped support for a boat, cast, etc.; chock.
truss(def 9).

Shipbuilding.

a moving framework on which a hull slides down the ways when launched.
a built-up form on which plates of irregular form are shaped.

Medicine/Medical. a frame that prevents the bedclothes from touching an injured part of a bedridden patient.

Mining. a box on rockers for washing sand or gravel to separate gold or other heavy metal.

an engraver's tool for laying mezzotint grounds.

Painting. a structure of wooden strips attached to the back of a panel, used as a support and to prevent warping.

verb (used with object), cra·dled, cra·dling.

to hold gently or protectively.

to place or rock in or as in an infant's cradle.

to nurture during infancy.

to receive or hold as a cradle.

to cut (grain) with a cradle.

to place (a vessel) on a cradle.

Mining. to wash (sand or gravel) in a cradle; rock.

Painting. to support (a panel) with a cradle.

verb (used without object), cra·dled, cra·dling.

to lie in or as if in a cradle.

to cut grain with a cradle scythe.

Idioms

rob the cradle, Informal. to marry, court, or date a person much younger than oneself.

Origin of cradle

before 1000; Middle English cradel, Old English cradol; akin to Old High German cratto basket

Related formscra·dler, nounun·cra·dled, adjective

Synonyms for cradle

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cradle ON THESAURUS.COM

3. birthplace, fountain, font, wellspring.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for cradle

crib, birthplace, bassinet, cot, hamper, pannier, origin, infancy, spring, source, nursery, fountain, babyhood, fount, beginning, wellspring, fountainhead, nativity, nourish, support

Examples from the Web for cradle

Contemporary Examples of cradle

His books include Up From the Cradle of Jazz: New Orleans Music Since World War II and a novel, Last of the Red Hot Poppas.
New Orleans’ Carnivalesque Day of the Dead
Jason Berry
November 1, 2014
Both Linda Perilstein, executive director of Cradle of Hope, and Leslie Case of Spence-Chapin, both declined to comment.
Couple Sues Over Russian ‘Bait-and-Switch’ Adoption of Disabled Kids
Tina Traster
October 30, 2014
Doctors would not let the Cradle of Civilization come to this.
Mosul's Civilization and Its Discontents
Michael Carson
June 14, 2014
When it comes to art, we are taught from the cradle that copying is wrong.
There’s Nothing Wrong—and a Lot That’s Right—About Copying Other Artists
Malcolm Jones
January 26, 2014
“The hand that rocks the cradle, moves the world,” as Breivik said to the forensic psychiatrists.
What Made Anders Behring Breivik a Mass Killer in Norway?
Aage Borchgrevink
November 24, 2013

Historical Examples of cradle

They had cared for him in his cradle; he followed them to their graves.
'Tis Sixty Years Since
Charles Francis Adams
Rock, rock, went the cradle, and mother and child slept; but alas!
Harriet, The Moses of Her People
Sarah H. Bradford
Emilia looked as innocent as when Hope had tended her in the cradle.
Malbone
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
You'll find him rocking the cradle of Tippoo Wellington, my youngest son!
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
Her life, claimed by the open air, had its reward—the saddle is no cradle for weaklings.
Thoroughbreds
W. A. Fraser

British Dictionary definitions for cradle

cradle

noun

a baby's bed with enclosed sides, often with a hood and rockers

a place where something originates or is nurtured during its early lifethe cradle of civilization

the earliest period of lifethey knew each other from the cradle

a frame, rest, or trolley made to support or transport a piece of equipment, aircraft, ship, etc

a platform, cage, or trolley, in which workmen are suspended on the side of a building or ship

the part of a telephone on which the handset rests when not in use

a holder connected to a computer allowing data to be transferred from a PDA, digital camera, etc

another name for creeper (def. 5)

agriculture

a framework of several wooden fingers attached to a scythe to gather the grain into bunches as it is cut
a scythe equipped with such a cradle; cradle scythe
a collar of wooden fingers that prevents a horse or cow from turning its head and biting itself

Also called: rocker a boxlike apparatus for washing rocks, sand, etc, containing gold or gem stones

engraving a tool that produces the pitted surface of a copper mezzotint plate before the design is engraved upon it

a framework used to prevent the bedclothes from touching a sensitive part of an injured person

from the cradle to the grave throughout life

verb

(tr) to rock or place in or as if in a cradle; hold tenderly

(tr) to nurture in or bring up from infancy

(tr) to replace (the handset of a telephone) on the cradle

to reap (grain) with a cradle scythe

(tr) to wash (soil bearing gold, etc) in a cradle

lacrosse to keep (the ball) in the net of the stick, esp while running with it

Derived Formscradler, noun

Word Origin for cradle

Old English cradol; related to Old High German kratto basket

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for cradle

c.1200, cradel, from Old English cradol "little bed, cot," from Proto-Germanic *kradulas "basket" (cf. Old High German kratto, krezzo "basket," German Krätze "basket carried on the back"). Cat's cradle is from 1768. Cradle-snatching "amorous pursuit of younger person" is 1925, U.S. slang.

c.1500, from cradle (n.). Related: Cradled; cradling.

cradle in Medicine

cradle

[krād′l]

n.

A small low bed for an infant, often furnished with rockers.

A frame used to keep the bedclothes from pressing on an injured part.

Idioms and Phrases with cradle

cradle

see from the cradle to the grave; rob the cradle.