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a small bed for an infant, usually on rockers.

any of various supports for objects set horizontally, as the support for the handset of a telephone.

the place where anything is nurtured during its early existence.

Agriculture.��

1. a frame of wood with a row of long curved teeth projecting above and parallel to a scythe, for laying grain in bunches as it is cut.

2. a scythe together with the cradle in which it is set.

a wire or wicker basket used to hold a wine bottle in a more or less horizontal position while the wine is being served.

Artillery.��the part of a gun carriage on which a recoiling gun slides.

a landing platform for ferryboats, rolling on inclined tracks to facilitate loading and unloading at different water levels.

Aeronautics.��a docklike structure in which a rigid or semirigid airship is built or is supported during inflation.

Automotive.��creeper.

Nautical.��

1. a shaped support for a boat, cast, etc.; chock.

2. truss.

Shipbuilding.��

1. a moving framework on which a hull slides down the ways when launched.

2. a built-up form on which plates of irregular form are shaped.

Medicine/Medical.��a frame that prevents the bedclothes from touching an injured part of a bedridden patient.

Mining.��a box on rockers for washing sand or gravel to separate gold or other heavy metal.

an engraver's tool for laying mezzotint grounds.

Painting.��a structure of wooden strips attached to the back of a panel, used as a support and to prevent warping.

to hold gently or protectively.

to place or rock in or as in an infant's cradle.

to nurture during infancy.

to receive or hold as a cradle.

to cut (grain) with a cradle.

to place (a vessel) on a cradle.

Mining.��to wash (sand or gravel) in a cradle; rock.

Painting.��to support (a panel) with a cradle.

to lie in or as if in a cradle.

to cut grain with a cradle scythe.