abed

See also: Abed and abêd

English

From Middle English abedde, on bedde (“bed”), from Old English bedd (“bed”). Equivalent to a- (“in, on”) +‎ bed.

abed (not comparable)

In bed, or on the bed; confined to bed. [First attested from 1150 to 1350.][1]
- c. 1564–1616, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, II, iii:
  Not to be abed after midnight
- 1883, Fielde, Adele Marion, “倒 (tó̤)”, in A Pronouncing and Defining Dictionary of the Swatow Dialect, Arranged According to Syllables and Tones, Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press, page 560:
  
  [She] is sick abed.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
  The world was awake to the 2nd of May, but Mayfair is not the world, and even the menials of Mayfair lie long abed.
- 1948, Alan Paton, chapter 12, in Cry, the Beloved Country, London: Jonathan Cape:
  Who can lie peacefully abed, while the darkness holds some secret?
To childbed
- c. 1564–1616, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, IV, ii:
  I mean, she's brought a-bed

in bed, or on the bed

Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abed”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 3.

abed

“abed” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.

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