cradled
Variant of cradle
cra·dle (krād′'l)
noun
- a baby's small bed, usually on rockers
- the earliest period of one's life; infancy
- the place of a thing's beginning or early development the cradle of civilization
- Old Poet. a place of rest rocked in the cradle of the deep
- anything resembling a cradle or used somewhat like a cradle, as for holding or rocking; specif.,
- wooden or metal framework to support or lift a boat, ship, aircraft, etc. that is being built or repaired
- ☆ creeper (sense )
- the support on which the handset of a telephone (cradle telephone) rests when not in use
- Agric. a frame fastened to a scythe (cradle scythe) so that the grain can be laid evenly as it is cut
- Med. a frame for keeping bedclothes from touching an injured limb, etc.
- ☆ Mining a boxlike device on rockers, for washing the gold out of gold-bearing sand
Etymology: ME cradel < OE cradol < *kradula, little basket; akin to OHG kratto, basket < IE base *ger-, to twist, turn > crank, cramp, creek
transitive verb cradled -·dled, cradling -·dling
- to place, rock, or hold in or as in a cradle
- to take care of in infancy; nurture
- to cut (grain) with a cradle scythe
- ☆ Mining to wash (gold-bearing sand) in a cradle
intransitive verb
rob the cradle
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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