truckle-bed

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a low bed on small wheels or casters that can be rolled beneath a higher bed when not in use

   The child slept on a truckle-bed that was pushed under the guest bed each morning.

A compound of truckle, 'small wheel or caster,' and bed, attested since the fifteenth century. Truckle comes through Middle English trokell from Latin trochlea, 'a block or system of pulleys.' The name describes the small wheels that let the low bed roll beneath a larger one; trundle bed is the usual modern synonym.

Topics