A bed is a piece of furniture designed for sleeping and resting. Most beds have a soft mattress supported by a frame, and people cover them with sheets, blankets, and pillows to make them comfortable. When you're exhausted after a long day, climbing into bed feels wonderful.

Beds come in many sizes: a twin bed fits one person, while a king-size bed can hold a whole family reading stories together on Sunday morning. Some beds are simple frames close to the floor, while others have elaborate headboards or storage drawers underneath.

The word appears in many common phrases. A flower bed is a garden area where flowers are planted together, arranged like sleepers in a bed. The bed of a river or ocean is its bottom surface, where the water rests. When you make your bed, you straighten the sheets and blankets after getting up. And when someone says an idea should be “put to bed,” they mean it's time to finish discussing it and move on.

People also use bed as a verb: you might bed down for the night when camping, meaning you settle in to sleep wherever you are.