bolster.
A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape.
Meaning & usage
A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape.
A pad, quilt, or anything used to hinder pressure, support part of the body, or make a bandage sit easy upon a wounded part; a compress.
A small spacer located on top of the axle of horse-drawn wagons that gives the front wheels enough clearance to turn.
A short, horizontal structural timber between a post and a beam for enlarging the bearing area of the post and/or reducing the span of the beam.
A beam in the middle of a railway truck, supporting the body of the car.
The perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched.
The part of a knife blade that abuts upon the end of the handle.
The metallic end of a pocketknife handle.
The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital.
A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation.
That which supports or promotes; a catalyst.
A wide-bladed cold chisel designed to split and shape bricks.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English bolster, bolstre, from Old English bolster (“pillow”), from Proto-West Germanic *bolstr, from Proto-Germanic *bulstraz (“pillow, cushion”). Cognate with Scots bowster (“bolster”), West Frisian bulster (“mattress”), Dutch bolster (“husk, shell”), German Polster (“bolster, pillow, pad”), Swedish bolster (“soft mattress, bolster”), Icelandic bólstur (“pillow”).
To brace, reinforce, secure, or support.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English bolster, bolstre, from Old English bolster (“pillow”), from Proto-West Germanic *bolstr, from Proto-Germanic *bulstraz (“pillow, cushion”). Cognate with Scots bowster (“bolster”), West Frisian bulster (“mattress”), Dutch bolster (“husk, shell”), German Polster (“bolster, pillow, pad”), Swedish bolster (“soft mattress, bolster”), Icelandic bólstur (“pillow”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.