bed rest

American  

noun

1. a prolonged rest in bed, as in the treatment of an illness.

2. a device used to support a person sitting up in bed.

---

Etymology

Origin of bed rest

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

When my wife was pregnant, her OB-GYN declared her cervix to be incompetent and put her on bed rest.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 13, 2026

Smith was a sickly child, contracting bronchial pneumonia, tuberculosis, German measles, mumps and chicken pox which kept her in "periods of lengthy bed rest".

From BBC • Nov. 4, 2025

The third delivered a baby girl, but demanded 23 weeks of bed rest.

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2024

Sleep duration decreased at the beginning of bed rest, and on average, participants slept less than 6.5 hours during the night throughout the study.

From Science Daily • Apr. 22, 2024

Etta was off bed rest and back at Shady Glen, he said, and she’d called to tell the social worker how much the residents loved talking to the boy.

From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman