mattress

[ma-tris] /ˈmæ trɪs/
noun
1.
a large pad for supporting the reclining body, used as or on a bed, consisting of a quilted or similarly fastened case, usually of heavy cloth, that contains hair, straw, cotton, foam rubber, etc., or a framework of metal springs.
2.
air mattress.
3.
a mat woven of brush, poles, or similar material, used to prevent erosion of the surface of dikes, jetties, embankments, dams, etc.
4.
a layer of concrete placed on bare ground, as to provide a footing; mat.
5.
a layer of any material used to cushion, protect, reinforce, or the like.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English materas < Old French < Italian materasso < Arabic maṭraḥ mat, cushion
Examples from the web for mattress
  • Inside, a raised platform holds a cushy foam mattress topped with a featherbed.
  • Nearby is a rumpled mattress where he sleeps when felled by exhaustion.
  • Saving money under a mattress turns into capitalism once the saver uses that money to start a business.
  • The year in college where my bed was a mattress on a ledge in a window nook in a finished attic.
  • After dark the bed bugs would emerge from his recliner and tattered box-spring mattress to feed on his blood.
  • If you can drive your new mattress home from the store yourself you are more likely to avoid a bed bug infestation altogether.
  • We turn the mattress over and never head the humming radio station again.
  • To continue he had to fashion a head stabilizer from a mattress and duct tape.
  • And if you still don't feel comfortable, you can always hide between the mattress and the box thingy in your bed.
  • Imagine that you have a standard, single-bed mattress.
British Dictionary definitions for mattress

mattress

/ˈmætrɪs/
noun
1.
a large flat pad with a strong cover, filled with straw, foam rubber, etc, and often incorporating coiled springs, used as a bed or as part of a bed
2.
Also called Dutch mattress. a woven mat of brushwood, poles, etc, used to protect an embankment, dyke, etc, from scour
3.
a concrete or steel raft or slab used as a foundation or footing Sometimes shortened to mat
4.
a network of reinforcing rods or expanded metal sheeting, used in reinforced concrete
5.
(civil engineering) another name for blinding (sense 3)
Word Origin
C13: via Old French from Italian materasso, from Arabic almatrah place where something is thrown
Word Origin and History for mattress
n.

late 13c., from Old French materas (12c., Modern French matelas), from Italian materasso and directly from Medieval Latin matracium, borrowed in Sicily from Arabic al-matrah "the cushion" (cf. Spanish almadraque "mattress," Provençal almatrac), literally "the thing thrown down," from taraha "he threw (down)."