Cradle

Quick meaning: Cradle is a noun meaning A bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots.

Meaning

A bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots.

More Meanings

1. (figuratively) The place of origin, or in which anything is nurtured or protected in the earlier period of existence.
2. (figuratively) Infancy, or very early life.
3. 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.
4. A case for a broken or dislocated limb.
5. A frame to keep the bedclothes from contact with the sensitive parts of an injured person.
6. 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.
7. 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.

Example Sentences

a cradle of crime

the cradle of liberty

from the cradle to the grave

from their cradles bred together

Word Forms

• cradles
• cradling
• cradled

Synonyms for cradle

Depending on context, synonyms include rocker, rest, provenance, birthplace, rock.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include rock, birthplace, provenance, bassinet, crib, cot.

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