Webster's English Dictionary

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cradle

1. cra.dle \'kra-d-*l\ n [ME cradel, fr. OE cradel; akin to OHG kratto 
   basket, Skt ]grantha knot 1a: a bed or cot for a baby usu. on rockers or 
   pivots  1b: a place of origin  2: a framework or support suggestive of a 
   baby's cradle : as  2a1: a framework of bars and rods  2a2: the support for 
   a telephone receiver or handset  2b1: an implement with rods like fingers 
   attached to a scythe and used form erly for harvesting grain 2b2: a low 
   frame on casters on which mechanics lie while working under an a utomobile 
   2c: a frame to keep the bedclothes from contact with an injured part of the 
    body 3: a rocking device used in panning for gold 
2. cradle \'kra-d-lin, -*l-in\ vb or cra.dling 1a: to place or keep in or 
   as if in a cradle  1b: SHELTER, REAR  1c: to support protectively or 
   intimately  2: to cut (grain) with a cradle scythe  3: to place, raise, 
   support, or transport on a cradle  4: to wash in a miner's cradle  obs  : 
   to rest in or as if in a cradle