mattress

From Middle English materas, from Old French, from Arabic مَطْرَح‎ (maṭraḥ, “place where something is thrown”), from طَرَحَ‎ (ṭaraḥa, “to throw”). Compare divan, from Persian via Turkish (both of Middle Eastern origin, due to the local custom of lying on padding on floor being foreign to Europeans).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmætɹɪs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætɹɪs

mattress (plural mattresses)

1. A pad on which a person can recline and sleep, usually having an inner section of coiled springs covered with foam or other cushioning material then enclosed with cloth fabric.
2. A form of retaining wall used to support foundations or an embankment

• bottom sheet
• futon

mattress (third-person singular simple present mattresses, present participle mattressing, simple past and past participle mattressed)

1. (transitive) To cover with a thick layer, like a mattress; to blanket.
   • 1997, Andrew R. M. Patterson, A planet through a field of stars, page 123:

     A comfortable litter of pine needles had mattressed the ground and spreading branches had been a canopy overhead.

• smart set, smartest, smatters