bedstaff

English

Etymology

From bed +‎ staff.

Noun

The bedstaff is the pole tucked into the sideboards at an angle, in front of the pillows.

bedstaff (plural bedstaffs or bedstaves)

1. (obsolete) bedpost.
   • 1598, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Euery Man in His Humour. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Hostess, accommodate us with a bedstaff.

   • c. 1629, Richard Brome, The City Wit:

     Say there is no virtue in cudgels and bedstaves.

   • 1962, Lawrence Wright, Warm & Snug:The History of the Bed, Routledge & K.Paul; quoted in “Straw mattresses, chaff beds, palliasses, ticks stuffed with leaves”, in Old and Interesting‎, 2008 January 9:

     The groom of the wardrobe brings in the loose straw and lays it reverently at the foot of the bed. The gentleman-usher draws back the curtains. Two squires stand by the bedhead and two yeomen of the guard at the foot. One of these, with the help of the yeomen of the chamber, carefully forms the truss, and rolls up and down on it to make it smooth and ensure that no dagger or such are hidden in it....A canvas is laid over the straw, then the feather-bed, which is smoothed with a bedstaff.

   • 1998 September 28, Hans Vredeman de Vries, “Great Bed of Ware”, in Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections‎, Victoria and Albert Museum:

     Wooden poles or 'bed-staves' were used, pushed inside the lower frame, or into holes in the frame, to hold it [the bedding] all on. They are commonly mentioned in connection with beds in 16th and 17th century inventories, but no surviving examples of bedstaves are known to the author in England, although some survive in Sweden.

Derived terms

• in the twinkling of a bedstaff

References

• “bedstaff”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.