the.com/bedroll
a portable promise that anywhere is bed if you're tired enough to mean it
means A bundle of bedding—usually blankets or a sleeping bag rolled around a mat or sheet—that you carry and unroll to sleep on the ground.
from A plain English compound, exactly what it sounds like: 'bed' (Old English 'bedd,' the place you sleep) plus 'roll' (from Old French 'rolle,' a thing wound up, via Latin 'rotulus,' a little wheel). The word belongs to the world of soldiers, drovers, and cowboys, who literally rolled their bed into a tube and lashed it to a saddle or a pack—the name is the act.
- soldier's bunk
- Carried by armies long before sleeping bags existed
- swag down under
- Australians call their canvas bedroll a swag
- cowboy code
- Often doubled as a coffin on the trail
- zipper-free
- Predates the zipped sleeping bag by centuries
- rolled tight
- Compact enough to strap behind any saddle
swag bedroll — australian bushmen's rolled blanket and possessions, iconic since 1890s outback culture
cowboy bedroll — american cattle drive essential, typically 6-8 foot canvas roll tied with rope, 1800s-present
military bedroll — u.s. army sleeping system, standardized canvas and blanket configuration used in field operations