cradle
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: krāʹdəl
ipa: /ˈkɹeɪdəl/
rhymes: -eɪdəl
Forms: form: cradles
Etymology: From Middle English cradel, credel, from Old English cradol, from Proto-West Germanic *kradul, from Proto-Germanic *kradulaz, from Proto-Germanic *kradô (“(wicker) basket”). Related to cart.
Senses: examples: text: No sooner was I crept out of my cradle / But I was made a king, at nine months old.
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ix]:
text: the cradle that received thee at thy birth
ref: 1782, William Cowper, Expostulation:
text: Hush-a-by, baby, upon the tree-top; / When the wind blows the cradle will rock; / When the bough breaks the cradle will fall; / Down will come cradle and baby and all.
ref: 1805, Songs for the Nursery, page 5:
glosses: A bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots.
examples: text: a cradle of crime
text: the cradle of liberty
glosses: The place of origin, or in which anything is nurtured or protected in the earlier period of existence.
examples: text: from the cradle to the grave
text: from their cradles bred together
ref: c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: a form of worship in which they had been educated from their cradle
ref: (Can we date this quote?), Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, (please specify |book=I to XVI), in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641, Oxford: The Theater:
glosses: Infancy, or very early life.
glosses: 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.
glosses: 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.
glosses: 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.
glosses: A case for a broken or dislocated limb.
glosses: A frame to keep the bedclothes from contact with the sensitive parts of an injured person.
examples: text: Rough men brought pickle bottles full of nuggets. Mysterious dirty-looking calico bags were opened, disclosing small quantities of water-worn flaky gold, which had been washed out of the beds of rivers with a cradle.
ref: 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 146:
topics: business
mining
glosses: A machine on rockers, used in washing out auriferous earth.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A suspended scaffold used in shafts.
examples: text: A strong iron bar is fixed at the top of each cradle, to which the suspending chains are attached; the latter pass over the sheaves, and the cradles are kept in a horizontal position, by means of an adjusting rod placed above them
ref: 1853, Samuel Charles Brees, The Illustrated Glossary of Practical Architecture and Civil Engineering:
topics: business
carpentry
construction
manufacturing
glosses: A ribbing for vaulted ceilings and arches intended to be covered with plaster.
examples: text: The cradle was ill-made. One victim fell into the sea and was lost and the ensuing delay cost three more lives.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: 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.
examples: text: He slammed the handset into the cradle.
glosses: A rest for the receiver of a telephone, or for certain computer hardware.
qualifier: contact juggling
glosses: A hand position allowing a contact ball to be held steadily on the back of the hand.
glosses: A mechanical device for tilting and decanting a bottle of wine.
Synonyms: sense: machine on rockers used in washing out auriferous earth
word: rocker
sense: rest for receiver of a telephone
word: rest
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: babe-in-a-cradle
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cat's cradle
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradleboard
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle cap
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle crust
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradleful
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle hole
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradlehood
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradleland
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle leg
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradleless
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradlelike
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradlemaker
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradlemaking
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradleman
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradlemate
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle of civilization
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradler
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle-robber
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle robber
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradleside
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle-snatch
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle snatch
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle snatcher
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradlesome
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradlesong
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle song
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle-to-cradle design
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle-to-grave
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: cradle walk
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: encradle
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: the cradle to the grave
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: Judas cradle
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: Newton's cradle
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: rob the cradle
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: sea cradle
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
sense: Terms derived from cradle (noun)
word: uncradle
Related terms: crib