1. The hollow or channel of a water course ; the depression between the banks worn by the regular and usual flow of the water. “The ted is that soil so usually covered by water as to be distinguishable from the banks by the character of the soil, or vegetation, or both, produced by the common presence and action of flowing water. 2. The right of cohabitation or marital intercourse; as in the phrase “divorce from bed and board,” or a mensa et thoro. Bed of justice. In old French law. The seat or throae upon which the king sat when personally present in parliament; hence it signified the parliament itself.