cradle
IPA: krˈeɪdʌɫ
noun
- A bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots.
- (figuratively) The place of origin, or in which anything is nurtured or protected in the earlier period of existence.
- (figuratively) Infancy, or very early life.
- An implement consisting of a broad scythe for cutting grain, with a set of long fingers parallel to the scythe, designed to receive the grain, and to lay it evenly in a swath.
- A tool used in mezzotint engraving, which, by a rocking motion, raises burrs on the surface of the plate, so preparing the ground.
- A framework of timbers, or iron bars, moving upon ways or rollers, used to support, lift, or carry ships or other vessels, heavy guns, etc., as up an inclined plane, or across a strip of land, or in launching a ship.
- A case for a broken or dislocated limb.
- A frame to keep the bedclothes from contact with the sensitive parts of an injured person.
- (mining) A machine on rockers, used in washing out auriferous earth.
- (mining) A suspended scaffold used in shafts.
- (carpentry) A ribbing for vaulted ceilings and arches intended to be covered with plaster.
- (nautical) A basket or apparatus in which, when a line has been made fast to a wrecked ship from the shore, the people are brought off from the wreck.
- A rest for the receiver of a telephone, or for certain computer hardware.
- (contact juggling) A hand position allowing a contact ball to be held steadily on the back of the hand.
- A mechanical device for tilting and decanting a bottle of wine.
verb
- (transitive) To contain in or as if in a cradle.
- (transitive) To rock (a baby to sleep).
- (transitive) To wrap protectively, to hold gently and protectively.
- To lull or quieten, as if by rocking.
- To nurse or train in infancy.
- (lacrosse) To rock the lacrosse stick back and forth in order to keep the ball in the head by means of centrifugal force.
- To cut and lay (grain) with a cradle.
- To transport a vessel by means of a cradle.
- To put ribs across the back of (a picture), to prevent the panels from warping.
Advertisement
Examples of "cradle" in Sentences
- The baby is sleeping in the cradle.
- Masaya is the cradle of the Nicaraguan folklore.
- Feroke is the cradle of the tile industry in Kerala.
- He was the bassist for the metal band Cradle of Filth.
- And in this cradle is a nice, fat, bright-eyed little baby.
- A coil spring counteracts the downward force of the cradle frame.
- Then he goes to the cradle and looks at the baby smiling tenderly.
- It is the cradle of physical and recreational training in the Army.
- It is one of the reasons for his sobriquet 'The Cradle of Infantry'.
- On the right side of the mannequins are the ivory cradles of various sizes.
- Africa is the cradle of humanity and saw the birth of the first civilization.
- The cradle is equipped with a warmer and an alarm that goes off when a baby is deposited.
- And so, as long as the cradle is there to be minded, we shall have proved that out of two differences unions can spring.
- Earlier this year, his materials firm, MBDC, told GreenBlue it would have to license the term cradle to cradle if the nonprofit wanted to use it.
- Beyond the doll, a book and a trio of wooden figures (princess, baby in cradle and a motherly market woman) are her only birthday gifts this year.
- An often overlooked facet of the Battle of the Alamo was the inclusive nature of those who volunteered to defend what we know as the cradle of Texas liberty.
- Lake Turkana, thanks to its extensive fossil record of early humans, is often described as the cradle of mankind; our closest literal equivalent to the Garden of Eden.
- Indeed, some have argued that the [GreenBlue's Sustainable Packaging Coalition] is succeeding despite McDonough: Earlier this year, his materials firm, MBDC, told GreenBlue it would have to license the term cradle to cradle if the nonprofit wanted to use it.
- We're at a point in our history, with 6.4 billion of us, that we have to imagine what it would be like to redesign design itself, see design as the first signal of human intention, and realize that we need new intentions for our future where materials are seen as things that are highly valuable and need to go in closed cycles — what we call cradle to cradle, instead of cradle to grave.