A bed sheet is a rectangular piece of cloth or linen cotton used to cover a mattress. It is this sheet that one typically lies on.
In many areas of the world, a second flat bed sheet is laid on top of the sheet covering the mattress. This is known as a "top sheet" and when a top sheet is used, the sheet covering the mattress is known as a "bottom sheet". One sleeps between the two bed sheets. Blankets, comforters, and other bed covers are then placed on top of the second bed sheet.
The term bed sheet was first used in the 15th century.
Famous quotes containing the words bed and/or sheet:
“I wolde no lenger in the bed abide
If that I felte his arm over my side,
Til he hadde maad his raunson unto me;
Thanne wolde I suffre him do his nicetee.
And therfore every man this tale I telle:
Winne whoso may, for al is for to selle;
With empty hand men may no hawkes lure.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)
“There is a continual exchange of ideas between all minds of a generation. Journalists, popular novelists, illustrators, and cartoonists adapt the truths discovered by the powerful intellects for the multitude. It is like a spiritual flood, like a gush that pours into multiple cascades until it forms the great moving sheet of water that stands for the mentality of a period.”
—Auguste Rodin (1849–1917)