a small bed for an infant, usually on rockers.

any of various supports for objects set horizontally, as the support for the handset of a telephone.

the place where anything is nurtured during its early existence

Boston was the cradle of the American Revolution.

Agriculture .

a frame of wood with a row of long curved teeth projecting above and parallel to a scythe, for laying grain in bunches as it is cut.

a scythe together with the cradle in which it is set.

a wire or wicker basket used to hold a wine bottle in a more or less horizontal position while the wine is being served.

Artillery . the part of a gun carriage on which a recoiling gun slides.

a landing platform for ferryboats, rolling on inclined tracks to facilitate loading and unloading at different water levels.

Aeronautics . a docklike structure in which a rigid or semirigid airship is built or is supported during inflation.

Automotive . creeper ( def. 5 ) .

Nautical .

a shaped support for a boat, cast, etc.; chock.

truss ( def. 9 ) .

Shipbuilding .

a moving framework on which a hull slides down the ways when launched.

a built-up form on which plates of irregular form are shaped.

Medicine/Medical . a frame that prevents the bedclothes from touching an injured part of a bedridden patient.

Mining . a box on rockers for washing sand or gravel to separate gold or other heavy metal.

an engraver's tool for laying mezzotint grounds.

Painting . a structure of wooden strips attached to the back of a panel, used as a support and to prevent warping.

to hold gently or protectively.

to place or rock in or as in an infant's cradle.

to nurture during infancy.

to receive or hold as a cradle.

to cut (grain) with a cradle.

to place (a vessel) on a cradle.

Mining . to wash (sand or gravel) in a cradle; rock.

Painting . to support (a panel) with a cradle.

to lie in or as if in a cradle.

to cut grain with a cradle scythe. ?

rob the cradle, Informal . to marry, court

or date a person much younger than oneself.

noun

baby bed , bassinet , cot , crib , hamper , moses basket , pannier , trundle bed , babyhood , beginning , birthplace , fount , fountain , fountainhead , infancy , nativity , nursery , origin , source , spring , ultimate cause , wellspring , baby\'s bed , cunabula , incunabula , matrix , solen , trundle-bed

verb

lull , nestle , nourish , nurse , rock , support , tend , watch over , bassinet , bed , cot , crib , cuddle , hug , infancy , nursery , nurture , origin , wellspring