bed of roses Definition

bed
noun

1. A piece of furniture for sleeping on, generally a wooden and/or metal frame with a mattress and coverings, etc on it.

Thesaurus: sack (slang), cot, mattress, bunk, pallet, couch, chaise, berth, hay (slang).
2. A place in which anything (eg an animal) sleeps or rests.
3. colloq
Sleep or rest.
Example: ready for bed
4. The bottom of a river, lake or sea.
5. An area of ground in a garden, for growing plants. Often in compounds.

Example: rose-bed
Thesaurus: garden, patch, strip, area, plot, row.
6. A flat surface or base, especially one made of slate, brick or tile, on which something can be supported or laid down.
7. A layer or stratum, eg of oysters, sedimentary rock, etc.
8. colloq
Sexual intercourse; marital relations.
Example: All he ever thinks about is bed
9. A place available for occupancy in a residential home, nursing home or hospital.

verb bedded, bedding

tr & intr
1. To go to bed, or put someone in bed or in a place to sleep.

Example: bedded down on the sofa
Form: bed down (usually)
Form: bed someone down
2. To plant it in the soil, in a garden, etc.

Form: bed something out (usually)
3. To place or fix something firmly.

Example: Its base was bedded in concrete
Thesaurus: embed, implant, plant, insert, ground, fasten, fix, root, settle.
4. colloq
To have sexual intercourse with someone.
tr & intr
5. To arrange something in or to form, layers.

Derivative: bed of roses

See separate entry.

Idiom: get out of bed on the wrong side

colloq
To start the day in a bad mood.

Idiom: go to bed

Said of a newspaper or magazine, etc: to go to press.

Idiom: go to bed with someone

colloq
To have sexual intercourse with them.

Idiom: in bed with someone or something

colloq
In close involvement or collusion with (a person, organization, company, etc).

Idiom: make one's bed and have to lie in it

To have to accept the disadvantages or problems that result from one's own actions or past decisions.

Idiom: make the bed

To make the bedclothes tidy after the bed has been slept in.

Idiom: put something to bed

To send (a newspaper or magazine, etc) to press.

Idiom: take to one's bed

To go to bed and remain there, because of illness, grief, etc.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon bedd.

---

bed of roses
noun

1. An easy or comfortable place or situation.

Example: Her life is no bed of roses these days

---

rose¹
noun

1. An erect or climbing thorny shrub that produces large, often fragrant, flowers which may be red, pink, yellow, orange or white, or some combination of these colours, followed by bright-coloured fleshy fruits known as hips.
2. The flower of this plant.
3. A rose as the national emblem of England.
4. Any flowering plant that superficially resembles a rose, eg the Christmas rose.
5. The colour of a rose, usually a darkish pink.
6. A light-pink, glowing complexion.

Example: put the roses back in one's cheeks
Form: roses
7. A perforated nozzle, usually attached to the end of a hose, watering can, shower-head, etc, that makes the water come out in a spray.
8. A circular fitting in a ceiling through which an electric light flex hangs. Also called ceiling rose.
9. A circular moulding from which a door handle projects.
10. A rose-like design, eg round the sound hole of a guitar or lute, etc.
11. A rose-diamond.
12. A rose window.
13. A rosette.

adj

1. Relating to or like a rose or roses, especially in colour, scent or form.

Derivative: roseless
adj

Derivative: roselike
adj

Idiom: all roses (roses all the way)

Pleasant or happy; free from problems or difficulties.

Idiom: bed of roses

An easy or comfortable situation.

Idiom: under the rose

In confidence; privately. Also called sub rosa.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon, from Latin rosa, probably from rhodon rose.