1. A baby bed with sides and rockers
   "The newborn slept peacefully in her wooden cradle"
    
2. Where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence
   "the cradle of civilization";
   - birthplace, place of origin, provenance, provenience [US]
    
3. Birth of a person
   "he was taught from the cradle never to cry"
    
4. 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
   "The museum displayed an antique gold mining cradle";
   - rocker

1. Hold gently and carefully
   "He cradles the child in his arms"
    
2. Hold or place in or as if in a cradle
   "He cradled the infant in his arms"
    
3. Bring up from infancy
   "She cradled the orphaned child as if it were her own"
    
4. Cut grain with a cradle scythe
   "In the old days, farmers cradled wheat by hand"
    
5. Wash in a cradle
   "cradle gold"
    
6. (lacrosse) run with the stick
   "The midfielder cradled the ball as he sprinted towards the goal"

Derived forms: cradles, cradling, cradled

Type of: baby bed, baby's bed, beginning, birth, bring up, cut, launder, nurture, origin, parent, play, raise, rear, root, rootage, source, trough, wash

Encyclopedia: Cradle