A mattress is the large, flat object which is put on a bed to make it comfortable to sleep on.
mattress in British English
(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
mattress in American English
(ˈmætrəs)
noun
1.
a.
a casing of strong fabric filled with cotton, hair, foam rubber, etc., usually containing coiled springs, often quilted or tufted at intervals, and used on or as a bed
b.
an inflatable pad used in the same way
: in full air mattress
2.
a mass or mat of interwoven brushwood, poles, etc. used to protect an embankment or dike from erosion, etc.
Word origin
ME materas < OFr < It materasso < Ar maṭraḥ, place where something is thrown or laid, cushion
mattress in Hospitality
(mætrɪs)
Word forms: (plural) mattresses
noun
(Hospitality (hotel): Hotel room, bedroom)
A mattress is the large, flat object which is put on a bed to make it comfortable to sleep on.
COLLOCATIONS: soft ~hard ~
The mattress and pillows are too soft.
Many hotels now offer beds with firm mattresses.
Hotels should regularly change their sheets and replace their mattresses.
Examples of 'mattress' in a sentence
mattress
When the woman arrived she found he had put a mattress in the front room.
The Sun (2017)
The beds are mattresses on the floor.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
We had one bed, but they would put a mattress on the floor for me to sleep.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
People are dumping items around it: mattresses, old bits of furniture and rubbish.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Pull out the frame and it turns into a double bed (mattress not included).
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
There's also a luxurious bathroom, cosy bedroom with double bed and a pullout memory foam mattress under the couch.
The Sun (2016)
So will having a comfortable mattress and pillow - and you don't have to waste money buying one that contains copper.
The Sun (2017)
You might be walking past when an old mattress would come out of the window.
Max Arthur Lost Voices of the Edwardians: 19011910 in the words of the Men & Women Who WereThere (2006)
Most cells had a mattress on the floor although some people had only a concrete bed.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
It has been utilised to make mattresses and pillows.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
He slept on a dirty foam mattress thrown out by a hospital.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The frame was covered by a mattress.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
There were no lightbulbs upstairs and one of the beds was a mattress on the floor.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Cheap foam mattresses are less comfortable than sprung ones and will wear less well.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
They locked the doors and put mattresses in front of windows.
The Sun (2011)
They dragged him out and lifted him onto an old mattress in the warm boot room.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
If you have an uncomfortable mattress make changing it a priority.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Covering the mattress and pillows with finely woven cotton ticking helps.
MacIntyre, Anne M. E. Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome - How To Live With It (1989)
There were many camp beds and mattresses ranged along the passages.
Admiral Sandy Woodward, With Patrick Robinson ONE HUNDRED DAYS (2003)
With rain lashing outside the families sat with their belongings on thin rubber mattresses that the council had provided.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Use the correct pillow and mattress.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
This puppetry show starring a hunk of mattress foam is a fast-moving hoot.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
And as for the obligatory uncomfortable camping nights - we felt like frauds as the mattresses were gorgeously comfortable.
The Sun (2015)
I am a mattress of fresh straw, a hide of interwoven branches where the stars come in.
The Times Literary Supplement (2012)
In addition, the straw in your mattress is changed from time to time, and the hospital is said to have a complete set of pliers.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
I was sitting on a foam rubber mattress a few inches thick, six feet long, about three and a half feet wide.
Christianity Today (2000)
In other languages
mattress
British English: mattress /ˈmætrɪs/ NOUN
A mattress is a large flat pad which is put on a bed to make it comfortable to sleep on.