What does “Murphy bed” mean in English?

A “Murphy bed” is a bed that folds up into a wall or a cabinet when you are not sleeping. You pull it down to sleep, and fold it back up to make more space. In this tiny home tour, the owner says “this is my bed, some Murphy bed, horizontal Murphy bed.” Murphy beds are popular in small apartments and tiny homes because they save a lot of floor space. The bed is named after the American inventor William Murphy.

“Murphy bed” is the most common name in American English. In British English, you might also hear “wall bed” or “fold-up bed,” which mean the same thing. The name came from a real person, but now people use “Murphy bed” for this kind of bed even when other companies make it. This is like “escalator” or “thermos,” which started as brand names and became normal words. Today, “Murphy bed” is in dictionaries and is well known across English-speaking countries.