n. Originally, a straw bed; in modern upholstery, an under-mattress.n. A garment trimmed, with plaited straw sewed on like galloon or passement: women's dresses were so ornamented about 1785.n. A buffoon whose costume was generally striped like the ticking or stuff of which the covering of a mattress is made, whence the name: a character assumed by masqueraders.n. A solid bed of masonry, as for the floor of an oven or furnace; by extension, any pedestal or base-block built of masonry if of considerable dimensions.