bedpost

[ bed-pohst ]

/ ˈbɛdˌpoʊst /

one of the upright supports of a bedstead.

bedposts, Bowling. a split in which the seven and ten pins remain standing.

Origin of bedpost

First recorded in 1590–1600; bed + post¹

But a dashing, magnetic fifty-eight-year-old matinee idol with three ex-wives notched on his bedpost?

How to Get Over Cary Grant |Kara Cutruzzula |September 25, 2011 |DAILY BEAST
If there's a worm in every hole in that bedpost, we could go into the fish business.

When a Man Marries |Mary Roberts Rinehart
She moved instinctively to clutch a bedpost to steady herself, and as she did so her foot touched something soft.

A Fourth Form Friendship |Angela Brazil
The idea of scouting around where there are plenty of enemies, with nothing but a bedpost as a weapon.

The Boy Spies of Philadelphia |James Otis

Straightway she takes from her bosom Lisa's handkerchief, which she found hanging over Rodolpho's bedpost.

The Complete Opera Book |Gustav Kobb
She unhooked her vanity bag from the bedpost, rooted in it, shook it, turned it inside out.

Bliss, and Other Stories |Katherine Mansfield

bedpost

/ (ˈbɛdˌpəʊst) /

any of the four vertical supports at the corners of a bedstead

between you and me and the bedpost informal confidentially; in secret