Meanings
abed1
- 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 5604 more examples
Not to be abed after midnight
c. 1564–1616, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, II, iiiThe 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 DaysWho can lie peacefully abed, while the darkness holds some secret?
1948, Alan Paton, chapter 12, in Cry, the Beloved Country, London: Jonathan CapeIn 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 - archaicnot comparableOn a childbed.
I mean, she's brought a-bed
c. 1564–1616, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, IV, ii
Abed2
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
abed · adverb
- Old Englishon“in”
- Middle Englishabedde
- Englishabed
From Middle English abedde, o bedde, from Old English on (“in”) + bedde (“bed”). Equivalent to a- (“in, on”) + bed.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Abed · proper noun
- Arabicعَابِد“servant, worshipper”
- EnglishAbed
From Arabic عَابِد (ʕābid, “servant, worshipper”)
More words from Arabic
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
Anagrams
Cite this entry
abed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abed
“abed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abed. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “abed,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/abed.
Source: abed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.