to bed out
Preserved but no longer current.
To plant what are called "bedding-out plants" in a flower-bed. Bed- ding-out plants are reared in pots, generally m a hothouse, and are transferred into garden- beds early in the summer. Such plants as geraniums, marguerites, fuchsias, pentstemons, petunias, verbenas, lobelias, calceolarias, etc., are meant.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to bed out” mean?
To plant what are called "bedding-out plants" in a flower-bed. Bed- ding-out plants are reared in pots, generally m a hothouse, and are transferred into garden- beds early in the summer. Such plants as geraniums, marguerites, fuchsias, pentstemons, petunias, verbenas, lobelias, calceolarias, etc., are meant.
Is “to bed out” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.