Dictionary

strawbed en · NOUN

Etymology

From straw + bed.

Meanings

1. A mattress made of dry straw in a cloth sack, often used beneath a featherbed or other softer mattress.
   • 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:
   • 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:
   • 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:
   • 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:
2. (Bahamas) Childbirth.
   • "Strawbed fever" results from an infection caught in "strawbed" (childbirth). 1994, Patricia Glinton-Meicholas, How to be a True-true Bahamian, page 47:
   • 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:
   • 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:

Forms

Relateds

bedstraw