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1. Hold gently and carefully
   "He cradles the child in his arms"
    
2. Bring up from infancy
    
3. Hold or place in or as if in a cradle
   "He cradled the infant in his arms"
    
4. Cut grain with a cradle scythe
    
5. Wash in a cradle
   "cradle gold"
    
6. (lacrosse) run with the stick

1. A baby bed with sides and rockers
    
2. Where something originated or was nurtured in its early existence
   "the cradle of civilization";
   - birthplace, place of origin, provenance, provenience [US]
    
3. Birth of a person
   "he was taught from the cradle never to cry"
    
4. A trough that can be rocked back and forth; used by gold miners to shake auriferous earth in water in order to separate the gold
   - rocker

Derived forms: cradled, cradles, cradling

Type of: baby bed, baby's bed, beginning, birth, bring up, cut, hold, launder, nurture, origin, parent, play, raise, rear, root, rootage, source, take hold, trough, wash

Encyclopedia: Cradle