bolster en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- [ˈbɒʊlstə] (UK)
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈbəʊlstə/ (UK)
- /ˈbɒlstə/ (UK)
- /ˈboʊlstɚ/ (US)
Etymology
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”).
Meanings
-
A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape.
And here I'll fling the pillow, there the bolster, / This way the coverlet, another way the sheets.
c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:["]Don't you know how [Joseph Mallord William] Turner spoils his pictures by introducing a man like a bolster in the foreground? Well, in actual life every landscape is spoilt by men of worse shapes still." / "You sound like a bolster with the stuffing out." They laughed.
1907 April, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter VII, in The Longest Journey, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part I (Cambridge), page 88:
-
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.
This Arm ſhall be a Bolſter for thy Head, / I'll fetch clean Straw to make my Soldier's Bed; / There, while thou ſleep'ſt, my Apron o'er thee hold, / Or with it patch thy Tent againſt the Cold.
[1715], [John] Gay, The What D’Ye Call It: A Tragi-comi-pastoral Farce, London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 11:
- 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.
Its [the Ionic's column's] ancient capital is generally formed of two parallel bolsters
1826, Francesco Milizia, The Lives of Celebrated Architects Ancient and Modern:
- (historical) A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation.
-
(figuratively) That which supports or promotes; a catalyst.
My health too has been better since you took away that Montero cap. I have left off cayenned eggs and such bolsters to discomfort.
1867, Charles Lamb, Thomas Noon Talfourd, Works: Including His Most Interesting Letters, page 225:
- A wide-bladed cold chisel designed to split and shape bricks.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| bowster | Scotland, alternative | lexicographic | |
| bouster | Scotland, alternative | lexicographic | |
| boulster | alternative | lexicographic | |
| bolsters | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| boster | Scotland, alternative | lexicographic |
Deriveds
bogie bolster wagon · bolsterless · bolster wagon
Synonyms
crosshead · hotdog pillow · Dutch wife · pillow
Translations (59)
pl wałek (large cushion or pillow) · sdc cabitzari (large cushion or pillow) · pl metalowa końcówka rękojeści scyzoryka (metallic end of a pocketknife handle) · es volutas ((architecture) the rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital) · es zapata (short, horizontal, structural timber between a post and a beam) · ga ceannadhairt (large cushion or pillow) · el μαξιλάρα (large cushion or pillow) · cmn 靠枕 (large cushion or pillow) · ca coixí (large cushion or pillow) · ru ва́лик (large cushion or pillow) · pl podkładka (pad) · cs podhlavník (large cushion or pillow) · ru поду́шка (large cushion or pillow) · fa متکا (large cushion or pillow) · sc cabetzèra (large cushion or pillow) · bn পাশবালিশ (large cushion or pillow) · fr traversin (large cushion or pillow) · mk пе́рница (large cushion or pillow) · de Polster (large cushion or pillow) · pl podpora (short, horizontal, structural timber between a post and a beam) · ota بالش (large cushion or pillow) · sv bolster (large cushion or pillow) · gl traveseiro (large cushion or pillow) · de Nackenrolle (large cushion or pillow) · hu nagypárna (large cushion or pillow) · da bolster (large cushion or pillow) · es cabecera (large cushion or pillow) · pt travesseiro (large cushion or pillow) · ga babhstar (leapa) (large cushion or pillow) · bn কোলবালিশ (large cushion or pillow) · rif tsunta (large cushion or pillow) · ka მუთაქა (large cushion or pillow) · pl płyta (perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched) · pl podgłówek (large cushion or pillow) · hu vánkos (large cushion or pillow) · sdn capitzali (large cushion or pillow) · sc cabitzali (large cushion or pillow) · ota یاصدق (large cushion or pillow) · bg възглавница (large cushion or pillow) · cs vycpávka (pad) · kxd bantal paluk (large cushion or pillow) · hu hengerpárna (large cushion or pillow) · es almohada (large cushion or pillow) · la cervīcal (large cushion or pillow) · pt cabeceira (large cushion or pillow) · te దిండు (large cushion or pillow) · id bantal guling (large cushion or pillow) · rif tsummet (large cushion or pillow) · cmn 墊枕 /垫枕 (large cushion or pillow) · es matriz (perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched) · fi tyyny (large cushion or pillow) · hu párna (large cushion or pillow) · th หมอนข้าง (large cushion or pillow) · ga adhairt (large cushion or pillow) · wa tchefsî (large cushion or pillow) · es almohadón (large cushion or pillow) · it capezzale (large cushion or pillow) · id guling (large cushion or pillow) · pl woluta ((architecture) the rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital)