What does waterbed mean?
A waterbed is a bed whose mattress is filled with water, so the sleeper rests on a buoyant, gently yielding surface rather than a conventional mattress. It is a familiar household item in British and American English, but water-filled mattresses also have a medical history, having been used to support and position bedridden patients. In ordinary use, the word is concrete and largely neutral, though descriptions of waterbeds often emphasize their distinctive bobbing motion and the unusual sensations they create. The term is normally written as one word and is used for both the complete bed and, in more specific wording, the mattress fitted with water. A waterbed can be described as luxurious or impractical, depending on the speaker and the context. Its simple compound formation also makes the meaning immediately accessible: a “bed with water.” It remains a useful example of how a literal descriptive compound can become a distinctive household term.
nounA bed whose mattress is filled with water, usually in sealed water-filled chambers, so that the sleeper rests on a buoyant, yielding surface. In older medical usage, a waterbed was a water-filled apparatus used to support or reposition bedridden patients.
- A bed with a mattress filled with water or divided into water-filled chambers, used for sleeping.
- A water-filled therapeutic bed used to support or reposition bedridden patients.
"A waterbed turned the hotel room into a calm, gently bobbing refuge."
"The guest room had a waterbed that bobbed gently whenever someone sat on its edge."
"In older hospitals, waterbeds were used to support and reposition patients confined to bed."
The standard plural is formed by adding -s.
"The store sells waterbeds in several sizes."
Before bedroom waterbeds became a trend, hospitals used water-filled mattresses to support patients who could not be moved easily.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of waterbed
The compound waterbed emerged in English during the 19th century by combining the older English words water and bed. Both elements descend from Old English: water from wætor and bed from bedd. Parallel formations exist in Dutch, as waterbed, and German, as Wasserbett, although the English compound was not simply a borrowing from either language.
How waterbed is actually used
The word is standard in everyday British and American English and is normally written as one word. It is usually concrete and neutral, although waterbeds are sometimes portrayed as luxurious, unusual, or impractical.