Bolster

Definitions

1. A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape.
2. A surname from German.
   countable, uncountable
3. 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.
4. A ghost town in Okanogan County, Washington, United States.
   countable, uncountable
5. A small spacer located on top of the axle of horse-drawn wagons that gives the front wheels enough clearance to turn.
6. 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.
7. A beam in the middle of a railway truck, supporting the body of the car.
8. The perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched.
9. The part of a knife blade that abuts upon the end of the handle.
10. The metallic end of a pocketknife handle.
11. The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital.
12. A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation.
    historical
13. That which supports or promotes; a catalyst.
    figuratively
14. A wide-bladed cold chisel designed to split and shape bricks.

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

CEFR level