abed

A1B3E1D2
UK/əˈbɛd//ˈɑːbɛd/

adverb

In bed, or on the bed; confined to bed.

UncommonFirst used First attested from 1150 to 1350.Scrabble 7

Meanings

abed1

adverbabed (not comparable)
  1. archaicnot comparableIn bed, or on the bed; confined to bed.First known use First attested from 1150 to 1350.

    [She] is sick abed.

    1883, Adele Marion Fielde, “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
    4 more examples

    Not to be abed after midnight

    c. 1564–1616, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, II, iii

    The world was awake to the 2nd of May, but Mayfair is not the world, and even the menials of Mayfair lie long abed.

    1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days

    Who can lie peacefully abed, while the darkness holds some secret?

    1948, Alan Paton, chapter 12, in Cry, the Beloved Country, London: Jonathan Cape

    In the future, most crucially, Wikilambda will continue to be debugged and extended by its core developers. They will need to understand the structure and intent of the software, and their understanding will affect the future course of the project. They will understand Wikilambda’s structure and intent using abstractions. They will encounter these abstractions in the source code, in the documentation, in the conversation of their workmates, in textbooks, in blogs, at conferences, or abed on sleepless nights puzzling over fiendish bugs.

    2026, Michael Falk, “Wikilambda the ultimate: the Wikimedia foundation’s search for the perfect language”, in AI & Society: Knowledge, Culture and Communication, →DOI
  2. archaicnot comparableOn a childbed.

    I mean, she's brought a-bed

    c. 1564–1616, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, IV, ii

Abed2

proper nounAbed (plural Abeds)

plural Abeds

  1. A male given name from Arabic.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

abed · adverb

  1. Old Englishon“in”
  2. Middle Englishabedde
  3. Englishabed

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

Full word history & related roots →

Abed · proper noun

  1. Arabicعَابِد“servant, worshipper”
  2. EnglishAbed

From Arabic عَابِد (ʕābid, “servant, worshipper”)

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian на легло
  • на легло (na leglo)in bed, or on the bed
Czech v posteli
  • v posteliin bed, or on the bed
Dutch te bed, bedlegerig
  • te bedin bed, or on the bed
  • bedlegerigin bed, or on the bed
Esperanto en lito
  • en litoin bed, or on the bed
Finnish vuoteessa, sängyssä
  • vuoteessain bed, or on the bed
  • sängyssäin bed, or on the bed
French au lit
  • au litin bed, or on the bed
German zu Bett, im Bett
  • zu Bettin bed, or on the bed
  • im Bettin bed, or on the bed
Italian a letto
  • a lettoin bed, or on the bed
Norwegian i seng
  • i sengin bed, or on the bed
Portuguese deitado (na cama)
  • deitado (na cama)in bed, or on the bed
Russian в посте́ли
  • в посте́ли (v postéli)in bed, or on the bed
Spanish en cama, acostado
  • en camain bed, or on the bed
  • acostadoin bed, or on the bed
Turkish yatakta
  • yataktain bed, or on the bed

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with abed

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

abed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abed

MLA

“abed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abed. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “abed,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abed.

Source: abed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.