Bolster

Quick meaning: Bolster is a noun meaning A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape.

Meaning

A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape.

More Meanings

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

Example Sentences

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

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

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

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.

Word Forms

• bolsters
• bolstering
• bolstered

Synonyms for bolster

Depending on context, synonyms include crosshead, pillow, support, pad.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include pad, support, upholstery, bed, spur, underpin.

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