bed vs ground

bed

noun
  • The bottom of a body of water, such as an ocean, sea, lake, or river. 

  • Marriage. 

  • The taut surface of a trampoline. 

  • Any of the sections of a dartboard with a point value, delimited by a wire. 

  • The time for going to sleep or resting in bed; bedtime. 

  • The smallest division of a geologic formation or stratigraphic rock series marked by well-defined divisional planes (bedding planes) separating it from layers above and below. 

  • Sleep; rest; getting to sleep. 

  • Sexual activity. 

  • A garden plot. 

  • A place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid. 

  • A piece of music, normally instrumental, over which a radio DJ talks. 

  • The lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile. 

  • An area where a large number of oysters, mussels, other sessile shellfish, or a large amount of seaweed is found. 

  • A foundation or supporting surface formed of a fluid. 

  • The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad. 

  • A course of stone or brick in a wall. 

  • Time spent in a bed. 

  • A deposit of ore, coal, etc. 

  • A piece of furniture, usually flat and soft, on which to rest or sleep. 

  • A prepared spot in which to spend the night. 

  • The flat surface of a scanner on which a document is placed to be scanned. 

  • The horizontal surface of a building stone. 

  • The platform of a truck, trailer, railcar, or other vehicle that supports the load to be hauled. 

  • One's place of sleep or rest. 

  • A shaped piece of timber to hold a cask clear of a ship’s floor; a pallet. 

verb
  • To settle, as machinery. 

  • To go to bed. 

  • To have sexual intercourse with. 

  • To lay flat; to lay in order; to place in a horizontal or recumbent position. 

  • To lay or put in any hollow place, or place of rest and security, surrounded or enclosed; to embed. 

  • To furnish with a bed or bedding. 

  • To set out (plants) in a garden bed. 

  • To place in a bed. 

  • To dress or prepare the surface of (stone) so it can serve as a bed. 

  • To put oneself to sleep. 

  • To set in a soft matrix, as paving stones in sand, or tiles in cement. 

ground

noun
  • The bottom of a body of water. 

  • Basis, foundation, groundwork, legwork. 

  • Terrain. 

  • The pit of a theatre. 

  • A soccer stadium. 

  • Reason, (epistemic) justification, cause. 

  • The plain surface upon which the figures of an artistic composition are set. 

  • A flat surface upon which figures are raised in relief. 

  • An electrical conductor connected to the earth, or a large conductor whose electrical potential is taken as zero (such as a steel chassis). 

  • The area on which a battle is fought, particularly as referring to the area occupied by one side or the other. Often, according to the eventualities, "to give ground" or "to gain ground". 

  • The surface of the Earth, as opposed to the sky or water or underground. 

  • One of the pieces of wood, flush with the plastering, to which mouldings etc. are attached. 

  • Background, context, framework, surroundings. 

  • The net of small meshes upon which the embroidered pattern is applied. 

  • A composition in which the bass, consisting of a few bars of independent notes, is continually repeated to a varying melody. 

  • Advantage given or gained in any contest; e.g. in football, chess, debate or academic discourse. 

  • The area of grass on which a match is played (a cricket field); the entire arena in which it is played; the part of the field behind a batsman's popping crease where he can not be run out (hence to make one's ground). 

  • The tune on which descants are raised; the plain song. 

  • Soil, earth. 

  • A gummy substance spread over the surface of a metal to be etched, to prevent the acid from eating except where an opening is made by the needle. 

verb
  • To cover with a ground, as a copper plate for etching, or as paper or other materials with a uniform tint as a preparation for ornament. 

  • To connect (an electrical conductor or device) to a ground. 

  • To forbid (an aircraft or pilot) to fly. 

  • To found; to fix or set, as on a foundation, reason, or principle; to furnish a ground for; to fix firmly. 

  • To run aground; to strike the bottom and remain fixed. 

  • To place something on the ground. 

  • To hit a ground ball. Compare fly (verb (regular)) and line (verb). 

  • To improve or focus the mental or emotional state of. 

  • To punish, especially a child or teenager, by forcing them to stay at home and/or give up certain privileges. 

  • To give a basic education in a particular subject; to instruct in elements or first principles. 

adj
  • Crushed, or reduced to small particles. 

  • Processed by grinding. 

How often have the words bed and ground occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )