cradle
Other forms: cradled; cradles; cradling
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.
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a baby bed with sides and rockers
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type of:
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baby bed, baby's bed
a small bed for babies; enclosed by sides to prevent the baby from falling
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baby bed, baby's bed
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where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence
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synonyms:
birthplace, place of origin, provenance, provenience
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birth of a person“he was taught from the cradle never to cry”
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type of:
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birth
the time when something begins (especially life)
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birth
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hold or place in or as if in a cradle
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hold gently and carefully
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bring up from infancy
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a trough that can be rocked back and forth; used by gold miners to shake auriferous earth in water in order to separate the gold
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wash in a cradle
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cut grain with a cradle scythe
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type of:
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cut
separate with or as if with an instrument
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cut
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control a puck or ball by moving a stick, as in hockey or lacrosse
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type of:
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play
participate in games or sport
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play
/ˈkreɪdl/
/ˈkreɪdəl/
Vocabulary lists containing cradle
Separated from her father and brother by the Berlin Wall, Gerta comes up with a dangerous plan to reunite her family.
In this novel, a high school student details his time in a psychiatric institution.
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