A bed or cot for a baby, oscillating on rockers or swinging on pivots. / (figuratively) The place of origin, or in which anything is nurtured or protected in the earlier period of existence.

(transitive) To contain in or as if in a cradle. / (transitive) To rock (a baby to sleep). / (transitive) To wrap protectively, to hold gently and protectively. / To lull or quieten, as if by rocking.

plural of cradle

Third-person singular simple present indicative form of cradle

simple past tense and past participle of cradle

plural of cradleful

A number of babies that lies in a cradle. / A quantity of mined earth that is washed at one time in a cradle. / A quantity of something that is newly born or created.

plural of cradle-to-cradle design

A biomimetic approach to the design of products and systems that models human industry on nature's processes, where materials are viewed as nutrients circulating in metabolisms.

present participle of cradle