Murphy bed
1
4.8
- noun
- /ˈmɜrfi bɛd/
- US
:
cama abatible
- "We put a Murphy bed in here for when they visit," she said, pointing to what looks like a custom-designed cabinet.
- pull down the Murphy bed
My mother lived down the hall and my grandmother and I were in one room and with a pull down Murphy bed and I slept on the couch.
- My mother lived down the hall and my grandmother and I were in one room and with a pull down Murphy bed and I slept on the couch.
Examples
-
White cubes, some of them topped with white cushions, served as chairs, and a big white box on one wall held a Murphy bed.
Fiction book (2000) -
She pulls down the Murphy bed and falls onto it fully dressed, saying:
Fiction book (1993) -
All it was was a big room with a Murphy bed.
Fiction book (2002) -
I think you can squeeze two in that Murphy bed.
-
As it plays, she opens her Murphy bed and turns down the covers.
Fiction book (1992) -
And now I'm going home to my studio apartment, to brown walls and a Murphy bed.
-
Except when the Murphy bed was down, you couldn't open the front door.
-
My mother lived down the hall and my grandmother and I were in one room and with a pull down Murphy bed and I slept on the couch.
-
The place is pretty bleak: a room and a half, Murphy beds, linoleum floors, and a bath down the hall.
Fiction book (1993) -
The studio apartment featured a convenient Murphy bed that folded up into the wall, maximizing the limited space.
How Space-Saving
23
1.3
- US
1
4.8
5
2.6
- UK
5
1.0
5
1.2
8
3.2
Surface Forms
Morphology
Murphy + bed
The compound uses a proper name ('Murphy') plus 'bed'; knowing 'bed' and that 'Murphy' is a name does not indicate the specific property of being foldable or stored in a wall/cabinet. This is an eponymic label whose functional meaning (a bed that folds into a wall) is not derivable from the constituents, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts would not reliably infer the meaning.
Etymology
Murphy bed gets its name from a man called Murphy who made a special bed that could fold up into a wall or cupboard. One popular story says he hid the bed by day so the room looked bigger and visitors would be private, so today a Murphy bed means a bed that 'folds up' to 'save space'.