Bedpost

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A vertical post located at either end of a bed frame that supports the structure and often holds the bedstead together
2. One of the upright supports typically found at the corners or sides of a bed, serving as a structural element to keep the bed frame stable
3. A tall slender piece positioned at the end of a bed to support and anchor the frame, sometimes decorated or plain

Etymology: Bedpost is about as plain as compounds get: "bed" joined to "post," an upright timber or piece of wood fixed in place to hold something up. Its meaning followed the object. The posts at a bed's corners were the parts a sleeper could grip, climb or lean against, and the name simply describes them. Because older four-poster beds had tall posts that supported canopies and curtains, the term carried that picture with it for centuries. The phrase "between the bedposts" became a set idiom for the most private matters of a household, a way of talking about what happened in a bedroom without naming it. That figurative use is the part of the word's history that goes beyond its literal parts.

Synonyms: post, support, pillar, column, frame