strawbed

plural strawbeds · alternative straw-bed · alternative straw bed

1. A mattress made of dry straw in a cloth sack, often used beneath a featherbed or other softer mattress.

   It is very difficult for me to make my strawbed in accordance with military regulations.

   1987, Karl Fuchs, Horst Fuchs Richardson, Dennis E. Showalter, Sieg Heil!: war letters of Tank Gunner Karl Fuchs, 1937-1941, page 24

   3 more examples

   The lying-in woman was not allowed to lie in bed, but a strawbed was prepared for her on the floor.

   1946, Knut Liestøl, Scottish and Norwegian Ballads - Issues 1-4, page 157

   To cut down labor pains , put something made of iron or steel between the strawbed and the featherbed.

   1967, North Carolina Folklore - Volumes 15-18, page 180

   Molitor escaped and "hid in the strawbed of his French mistress" before inexplicably leaving Germany and "arriving safely" in New York.

   1990, Michigan History - Volumes 74-75, page 8

2. BahamasChildbirth.

   "Strawbed fever" results from an infection caught in "strawbed" (childbirth).

   1994, Patricia Glinton-Meicholas, How to be a True-true Bahamian, page 47

   2 more examples

   An old woman called "Ala Ju" (Mother Julia) walked three miles to get me a sample of the Granny Bush (Croton linearis), whose leaves are steeped and given to women for nine days after childbirth, or "strawbed" as it is termed here.

   1960, Bahamas Handbook and Businessman's Annual

   It grows profusely in the Bahamas. It is used for "building up men's energy and body" and as a sponge bath for women, "after they come out of strawbed".

   1969, Mrs. Leslie Higgs, Bush Medicine in the Bahamas, page 15