bedfast adj Also, by folk-etym, bed-fastened, ~-fasting [bed + fast fixed, immovable; OED “north. dial. and Sc.,” a1639→] chiefly Midl, West See Map
Confined to bed because of illness, infirmity, or injury; bedridden.
1821 Torch-Light & Pub. Advt. (Hagers-Town MD) 15 May 1/5 sePA, [Testimonial letter:] There was a young man in our neighborhood who was taken with a violent pain in his hip, so that he was bed fast for some days. 1846 Eve. Post (NY NY) 10 Aug [2]/4 MD, An aged lady . . , who was bedfast, narrowly escaped drowning, in consequence of the sudden inundation of the building. 1890 DN 1.69 IL, LA, Bed-fast: confined to bed. I have heard this word but once, and in the parish of East Baton Rouge [LA]. . . An Illinois friend tells me that it is common in that state. 1892 DN 1.234 KY, Bed-fast. 1907 DN 3.229 nwAR, seMO, Bedfast. . . Bedridden. “He is old and bedfast now.” 1927 DN 5.468 Appalachians, Bed-fast. . . Confined to bed; bed-ridden. 1935 Advertiser (Huntington WV) 24 Jan (AmSp 14.155), His father had been bedfast since the accident. 1939 AmSp 14.155 neKY, csOH, cwWV, Bedfast. . . This expression is current in the Tri-State region. Although the word is listed in Webster, it seems to be unknown in most sections of the East and South. c1960 Wilson Coll. csKY, Bedfast. . . Confined to his bed or bedrid. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. BB43) 243 Infs, chiefly Midl, West, Bedfast; GA8, Bed-fasting; GA77, Bed-fastened; (Qu. BB41) 66 Infs, chiefly N Midl, KY, Bedfast; (Qu. BB42) 9 Infs, Bedfast. 1967 Independence Enterprise (OR) 12 Jan 3/3, [He] is recovering from a heart attack he had the week before Christmas. He will be bedfast for about three weeks. 1977 Abilene Reporter–News (TX) 27 Apr 1/4, The additional 50 beds would give the center the flexibility of caring for retirees after they become bedfast. 1999 Telegraph (Alton IL) 11 Sept sec C 5/6, [Advt:] Caregiver, Weekends, for bedfast woman needed. 2014 Reg.–Herald (Beckley WV) 7 Sept sec A 3/4, “For the last two years she was bedfast,” White said. “There was no quality of life for her to any degree.”