cradle

American  

[kreyd-l] / ˈkreɪd l /

noun

• cradles
  plural

1. a small bed for an infant, usually on rockers.

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

3. the place where anything is nurtured during its early existence.

   Boston was the cradle of the American Revolution.

   Synonyms:

   wellspring, font, fountain, birthplace

4. Agriculture.

   1. 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.

   2. a scythe together with the cradle in which it is set.

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

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

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

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

9. Automotive. creeper.

10. Nautical.

    1. a shaped support for a boat, cast, etc.; chock.

    2. truss.

11. Shipbuilding.

    1. a moving framework on which a hull slides down the ways when launched.

    2. a built-up form on which plates of irregular form are shaped.

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

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

14. an engraver's tool for laying mezzotint grounds.

15. 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)

• cradles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cradled,
  past participle,  past
• cradling
  present participle

1. to hold gently or protectively.

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

3. to nurture during infancy.

4. to receive or hold as a cradle.

5. to cut (grain) with a cradle.

6. to place (a vessel) on a cradle.

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

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

verb (used without object)

• cradles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cradled,
  past participle,  past
• cradling
  present participle

1. to lie in or as if in a cradle.

2. to cut grain with a cradle scythe.

idioms

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

cradle British  

/ ˈkreɪdəl /

noun

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

2. a place where something originates or is nurtured during its early life

   the cradle of civilization

3. the earliest period of life

   they knew each other from the cradle

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

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

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

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

8. another name for creeper

9. agriculture

   1. a framework of several wooden fingers attached to a scythe to gather the grain into bunches as it is cut

   2. a scythe equipped with such a cradle; cradle scythe

   3. a collar of wooden fingers that prevents a horse or cow from turning its head and biting itself

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

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

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

13. throughout life

---

verb

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

2. (tr) to nurture in or bring up from infancy

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

4. to reap (grain) with a cradle scythe

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

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

cradle More Idioms  

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

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cradler
  noun
• uncradled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cradles
  plural

Participles

• cradling
  present
• cradled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cradle
  simple
• cradles
  simple
• have cradled
  perfect
• has cradled
  perfect
• am cradling
  progressive
• are cradling
  progressive
• is cradling
  progressive
• have been cradling
  perfect progressive
• has been cradling
  perfect progressive

Past

• cradled
  simple
• had cradled
  perfect
• was cradling
  progressive
• were cradling
  progressive
• had been cradling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cradle
  simple
• will have cradled
  perfect
• will be cradling
  progressive
• will have been cradling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of cradle

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

Explanation

To cradle is to hold delicately and gently, like how you would hold an infant. A cradle is the tiny bed with rockers that the infant sleeps in. The word cradle comes to us from the Old English word cradol, which meant "little bed or cot." And while it is important to cradle a baby's head when you pick them up out of their cradle, this word isn't all baby talk. Ever heard of ancient Greece? Otherwise known as "the cradle of democracy?" That's because the noun version of cradle can be used to poetically describe the birthplace of a movement or the area where an early idea was nurtured.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cradle cradles cradled cradling

Perhaps it didn’t emerge solely from its traditional cradle in the Yellow River Basin.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026

A steel cradle, designed to hold your phone horizontally, has been placed on a fence post.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Two women dressed in green and pink fur cradle each other’s heads, reimagining medieval depictions of cephalophores — Christian martyrs who carry their severed heads while continuing to preach or pray.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 19, 2026

Simply put, Booth is the cradle of today’s capital markets.

From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026

Perchance was tucked in a valley surrounded by wooded hills like a baby in a green cradle.

From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate

It was like a civics revision lesson in one of the great cradles of democracy.

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026

“I was my mother’s only daughter,” Ms. Phillips notes, “the one who would inherit the dishes, the cradles, the women’s things, and the stories.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

In the tender maternity shoot, Jepsen cradles her bump in bed alongside Marsden Greif-Neil.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026

This caped crusader effortlessly cradles a colossal Bible in the crook of his left arm.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 6, 2025

And Ruth May was exempt from hope chest, but was allowed to lie in a hammock with us and make cat’s cradles out of yarn if she promised not to run off and break something.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

As the vessel neared the island—and Rhodes lost her ball cap in the wind—an app on the laptop she cradled lit up with digital WhaleSpotter images of whales exhaling, called “blows.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026

"He really has such an endearing personality," she told AFP earlier this week as she cradled him at her home in the southeastern town of Villy-le-Pelloux.

From Barron's ● May 15, 2026

Lakers fans should also celebrate Austin Reaves who, after making an incredible missed free-throw play to send the same game into overtime lovingly cradled the basketball and whispered to it “I love you.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2026

British actress Wunmi Mosaku, nominated for best supporting actress for Sinners, cradled her baby bump in a glittering gown with a cut-out shoulder.

From BBC ● Mar. 15, 2026

He was slumped over with his head cradled in his arms.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

“Turn a little bit sideways!” a photographer requested, and Hathaway laughed and complied, cradling her stomach proudly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026

To the left, “Painting and Sculpture” clutches a palette while cradling a miniaturized replica of the Dionysus torso from the Parthenon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026

Trump's spokeswoman -- who is best known for her acid put-downs of journalists -- posted a picture of herself in a nursery, cradling her baby daughter to her chest.

From Barron's ● May 7, 2026

Varley is cradling the child and McGowan-Fazakerley said: "It's going to be the hardest thing… we've got each other."

From BBC ● May 6, 2026

Here are Mr. and Mrs. Roodveldt, I presume, cradling a baby in a white dress, behind a table with a cake on it.

From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse

Related Words

• crib