mattress

Etymology

From Middle English materas, from Old French, from Arabic مَطْرَح (maṭraḥ, “place where something is thrown”), from طَرَحَ (ṭaraḥa, “to throw”). Compare divan, from Persian via Turkish (both of Middle Eastern origin, due to the local custom of lying on padding on floor being foreign to Europeans).

noun

1. A pad on which a person can recline and sleep, usually having an inner section of coiled springs covered with foam or other cushioning material then enclosed with cloth fabric.
2. A form of retaining wall used to support foundations or an embankment

verb

1. (transitive) To cover with a thick layer, like a mattress; to blanket.
   A comfortable litter of pine needles had mattressed the ground and spreading branches had been a canopy overhead. 1997, Andrew R. M. Patterson, A planet through a field of stars, page 123