mattress

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A form of lagging, in particular for boilers.

   Spun glass mattresses are used for lagging the boiler, which has three Ross pop safety valves on the front ring.

2. 2
   verb

   To cover with a thick layer, like a mattress; to blanket.

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

3. 3
   noun

   a large thick pad filled with resilient material and often incorporating coiled springs, used as a bed or part of a bed

4. 4
   noun

   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.

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).

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