What is "from bed and board"

Bed \Bed\, n. [AS. bed, bedd; akin to OS. bed, D. bed, bedde, Icel. be?r, Dan. bed, Sw. b["a]dd, Goth. badi, OHG. betti, G. bett, bette, bed, beet a plat of ground; all of uncertain origin.]

1. An article of furniture to sleep or take rest in or on; a couch. Specifically: A sack or mattress, filled with some soft material, in distinction from the bedstead on which it is placed (as, a feather bed), or this with the bedclothes added. In a general sense, any thing or place used for sleeping or reclining on or in, as a quantity of hay, straw, leaves, or twigs.

   And made for him [a horse] a leafy bed.
   --Byron.

   I wash, wring, brew, bake, . . . make the beds.
   --Shak.

   In bed he slept not for my urging it.
   --Shak.

2. (Used as the symbol of matrimony) Marriage.

   George, the eldest son of his second bed.
   --Clarendon.

3. A plat or level piece of ground in a garden, usually a little raised above the adjoining ground. ``Beds of hyacinth and roses.''
   --Milton.

4. A mass or heap of anything arranged like a bed; as, a bed of ashes or coals.

5. The bottom of a watercourse, or of any body of water; as, the bed of a river.

   So sinks the daystar in the ocean bed.
   --Milton.

6. (Geol.) A layer or seam, or a horizontal stratum between layers; as, a bed of coal, iron, etc.

7. (Gun.) See Gun carriage, and Mortar bed.

8. (Masonry)

   1. The horizontal surface of a building stone; as, the upper and lower beds.

   2. A course of stone or brick in a wall.

   3. The place or material in which a block or brick is laid.

   4. The lower surface of a brick, slate, or tile.
      --Knight.

9. (Mech.) The foundation or the more solid and fixed part or framing of a machine; or a part on which something is laid or supported; as, the bed of an engine.

10. The superficial earthwork, or ballast, of a railroad.

11. (Printing) The flat part of the press, on which the form is laid.

    Note: Bed is much used adjectively or in combination; as, bed key or bedkey; bed wrench or bedwrench; bedchamber; bedmaker, etc.

    Bed of justice (French Hist.), the throne (F. lit bed) occupied by the king when sitting in one of his parliaments (judicial courts); hence, a session of a refractory parliament, at which the king was present for the purpose of causing his decrees to be registered.

    To be brought to bed, to be delivered of a child; -- often followed by of; as, to be brought to bed of a son.

    To make a bed, to prepare a bed; to arrange or put in order a bed and its bedding.

    From bed and board (Law), a phrase applied to a separation by partial divorce of man and wife, without dissolving the bonds of matrimony. If such a divorce (now commonly called a judicial separation) be granted at the instance of the wife, she may have alimony.