Bolster

/ˈbɒlstə/ · noun

Meaning

A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape..

Definitions by Sense

1. A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape.
2. 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.
3. (vehicles, agriculture) A small spacer located on top of the axle of horse-drawn wagons that gives the front wheels enough clearance to turn.
4. 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.
5. A beam in the middle of a railway truck, supporting the body of the car.
6. The perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched.
7. The part of a knife blade that abuts upon the end of the handle.
8. The metallic end of a pocketknife handle.

Example Sentences

And here I'll fling the pillow, there the bolster, / This way the coverlet, another way the sheets.

["]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.

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.

Its [the Ionic's column's] ancient capital is generally formed of two parallel bolsters

My health too has been better since you took away that Montero cap. I have left off cayenned eggs and such bolsters to discomfort.

Puget also teamed up with Matt Hyde (Deftones, Slayer) to co-produce the record, which was another smart move: Together, the pair ensures that AFI (The Blood Album)'s arrangements are streamlined, but bolstered by just the right amount of atmospheric texture.

However, once the bi-modes come on stream this [the power supply] will need to be bolstered by a feed at Braybrooke, just south of Market Harborough, for which reason the Department for Transport has supported the extension of overhead electrification from Kettering to Market Harborough.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, the number of locomotives at the depot was bolstered by the loan of several tank engines from the GWR, usually fitted with the distinctive "balloon" spark arrestors.

Synonyms for bolster

Antonyms for bolster

Related Words

Word Forms

• bolsters
• boulster
• bowster
• bouster
• boster
• bolstering
• bolstered

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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