Library / English Dictionary

CRADLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A baby bed with sides and rockers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cradle" is a kind of...):

baby's bed; baby bed (a small bed for babies; enclosed by sides to prevent the baby from falling)

Meronyms (parts of "cradle"):

rocker (a curved support that permits the supported object to rock to and fro)

Derivation:

cradle (hold gently and carefully)

cradle (hold or place in or as if in a cradle)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A trough that can be rocked back and forth; used by gold miners to shake auriferous earth in water in order to separate the gold

Synonyms:

cradle; rocker

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cradle" is a kind of...):

trough (a long narrow shallow receptacle)

Derivation:

cradle (wash in a cradle)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence

Example:

the birthplace of civilization

Synonyms:

birthplace; cradle; place of origin; provenance; provenience

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("cradle" is a kind of...):

beginning; origin; root; rootage; source (the place where something begins, where it springs into being)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Birth of a person

Example:

he was taught from the cradle never to cry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("cradle" is a kind of...):

birth (the time when something begins (especially life))

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Run with the stick

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "cradle" is one way to...):

play (participate in games or sport)

Domain category:

lacrosse (a game invented by American Indians; now played by two teams who use long-handled rackets to catch and carry and throw the ball toward the opponents' goal)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hold gently and carefully

Example:

He cradles the child in his arms

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "cradle" is one way to...):

hold; take hold (have or hold in one's hands or grip)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

cradle (a baby bed with sides and rockers)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Wash in a cradle

Example:

cradle gold

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "cradle" is one way to...):

launder; wash (cleanse with a cleaning agent, such as soap, and water)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

cradle (a trough that can be rocked back and forth; used by gold miners to shake auriferous earth in water in order to separate the gold)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cut grain with a cradle scythe

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "cradle" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Hold or place in or as if in a cradle

Example:

He cradled the infant in his arms

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "cradle" is one way to...):

hold; take hold (have or hold in one's hands or grip)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

cradle (a baby bed with sides and rockers)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Bring up from infancy

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "cradle" is one way to...):

bring up; nurture; parent; raise; rear (look after a child until it is an adult)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

Jo hardly knew her own MS. again, so crumpled and underscored were its pages and paragraphs, but feeling as a tender parent might on being asked to cut off her baby's legs in order that it might fit into a new cradle, she looked at the marked passages and was surprised to find that all the moral reflections—which she had carefully put in as ballast for much romance—had been stricken out.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The victim, from my cradle, of pecuniary liabilities to which I have been unable to respond, I have ever been the sport and toy of debasing circumstances.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Robert here entered, and Bessie laid her sleeping child in the cradle and went to welcome him: afterwards she insisted on my taking off my bonnet and having some tea; for she said I looked pale and tired.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Her mother and she contrived to fit up the baby’s cradle for me against night: the cradle was put into a small drawer of a cabinet, and the drawer placed upon a hanging shelf for fear of the rats.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

She would like the relics of great people better, for I've seen her Napoleon's cocked hat and gray coat, his baby's cradle and his old toothbrush, also Marie Antoinette's little shoe, the ring of Saint Denis, Charlemagne's sword, and many other interesting things.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She had seen David Copperfield out of the world, who was always running after wax dolls from his cradle.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

That forest-dell, where Lowood lay, was the cradle of fog and fog-bred pestilence; which, quickening with the quickening spring, crept into the Orphan Asylum, breathed typhus through its crowded schoolroom and dormitory, and, ere May arrived, transformed the seminary into an hospital.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

After that, she took the baby out of its little cradle, and nursed it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I looked at my love: that feeling which was my master's—which he had created; it shivered in my heart, like a suffering child in a cold cradle; sickness and anguish had seized it; it could not seek Mr. Rochester's arms—it could not derive warmth from his breast.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“As if this poor little innocent in its cradle had ever done any harm to you or anybody else, you jealous thing!” said she.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)