tighting down of old mattress

Posted by R. Berg on August 03, 2006

In Reply to: Tighting down of old mattress posted by Vince on August 02, 2006

: what is the phrase for the tighting down of old mattress'? Like batton down the hatches is the phrase for a ship or put a sock in it for a instument?

I don't think there's a phrase specifically for old mattresses. Anyway, battening down the hatches and putting a sock in a (presumably) wind instrument have two different kinds of purposes. You batten down hatches to keep things out of the inside of the ship. You put a sock in an instrument to mute it - to keep the sound inside. (I actually haven't heard a phrase about stuffing socks into trumpets, only into mouths.) Both these actions are ways of closing something, and I don't know why a mattress would need any similar service unless it's torn and it's leaking its filling. In that case, you could speak of mending it. ~rb