Other forms: cradles, cradling, cradled
A cradle is a small rocking bed for a baby. Rock the cradle, lay him in the cradle, an empty cradle.
A cot or crib is the fixed version; a cradle rocks. It also names any support that holds something in position: a telephone cradle, a cradle for a boat's hull. As a verb, to cradle is to hold something gently in both arms. The cradle of something is where it began: the cradle of civilisation. Note from the cradle to the grave, meaning for a whole lifetime, and cradle-snatcher.
1nouncradleA small rocking bed for a baby.
“The cradle was made by his grandfather and used by four children.”
2nounsupportA support holding something in position.
“The boat sits in a cradle all winter.”
3verbgentlyTo hold something gently in both arms.
“She cradled the bowl the whole way home.”
cradle is a holder or beginning place.
Also accepted in games: crib, cot
Old English cradol comes from a Germanic root meaning basket or wickerwork, the same family as crate and cart. The first cradles were woven, and the word has outlived the material by a thousand years.
Proto-Germanic
*kradulaz
Proto-West Germanic
*kradul
Old English
cradol
Middle English
cradel
English, today
cradle
From Middle English cradel, credel, from Old English cradol, from Proto-West Germanic kradul, from Proto-Germanic kradulaz, from Proto-Germanic kradô (“(wicker) basket”). Related to cart.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Around the House, Holding & Carrying