Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - cradle

 I. noun  Etymology: Middle English cradel, from Old English cradol; perhaps akin to Old High German kratto basket, Sanskrit grantha knot  Date: before 12th century  1.  a. a bed or cot for a baby usually on rockers or pivots  b. a framework or support suggestive of a baby's ~: as  (1) a framework of bars and rods  (2) the support for a telephone receiver or handset  c. an implement with rods like fingers attached to a scythe and used formerly for harvesting grain  d. a frame to keep the bedclothes from contact with an injured part of the body  2.  a. the earliest period of life ; infancy from the ~ to the grave  b. a place of origin the ~ of civilization  3. a rocking device used in panning for gold  II. verb  (~d; cradling)  Date: 15th century  transitive verb  1.  a. to place or keep in or as if in a ~  b. shelter, rear  c. to support protectively or intimately cradling the injured man's head in her arms  2. to cut (grain) with a ~ scythe  3. to place, raise, support, or transport on a ~  intransitive verb obsolete to rest in or as if in a ~