hammock

plural hammocks

1. A swinging couch or bed, usually made of netting or canvas about six feet (1.8 meters) wide, suspended by clews or cords at the ends.

   […] the poore ſaylers, who […] commonly get forthwith into their beds (or hamackoes) reſting their tyred bodies […]

   1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book I, page 7

   1 more example

   [W]ho vvould not rather Sleep Quietly upon a Hammock, vvithout either Cares in his Head, or Crudities in his Stomach, then lye Carking upon a Bed of State, vvith the Qualms and Tvvinges that accompany Surfeits and Exceſs?

   1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[Miscellany Fables.] Fab[le] CCCLXXXIII. A Spider and the Gout [Reflexion].”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 355

2. USarchaic outside dialectsA piece of land thickly wooded, and usually covered with bushes and vines.

present singular third person hammocks · participle present hammocking · participle past hammocked · past hammocked

1. intransitiveTo lie in a hammock.

   "I fancied that we — I and who? — hammocked among the summer breezes."

   1901, Yone Noguchi, The American Diary of a Japanese Girl (wiki article)

2. transitiveTo hang in a way that resembles a hammock.

   "She hammocked their plaids between the table and the bed, then edged her way past Kenneth as she approached the central hearth."

   2013, Mary Jo Putney, Patricia Rice, Susan King, Christmas Roses: Love Blooms in Winter

3. transitiveTo make something be wrapped tight, like in a hammock.

   "She hammocked her breasts into her bra, snapped it, hitched at it, and gave herself a profile glance in the mirror."

   1960, John D. MacDonald, The Only Girl in the Game

4. transitivebroadcastingTo schedule (a new or unpopular programme) between two popular ones in the hope that viewers will watch it.

plural Hammocks

1. A surname.