bolster

Alternative forms

• boulster
• bowster, bouster, boster (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English bolstre, from Old English bolster (“bolster, cushion”), from Proto-Germanic *bulstraz, *bulstrą (“bolster”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- (“bag, pillow, paunch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to swell, blow, inflate, burst”). 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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbəʊlstə/

Noun

Bolster or pillow (structural) (geograph.org.uk - 325191)

bolster (plural bolsters)

1. A large cushion or pillow.
   • 1590–92, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, act 4, scene 1:

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

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.
   • John Gay

     This arm shall be a bolster for thy head.

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. Sometimes also called a pillow or cross-head (Australian English).
5. The perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched.
6. The part of a knife blade that abuts upon the end of the handle.
7. The metallic end of a pocketknife handle.
8. (architecture) The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of G. Francis to this entry?)

9. (military, historical) A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation.

Verb

bolster (third-person singular simple present bolsters, present participle bolstering, simple past and past participle bolstered)

1. To brace, reinforce, secure, or support.
   • 2017 January 20, Annie Zaleski, “AFI sounds refreshed and rejuvenated on its 10th album, AFI (The Blood Album)”, in The Onion AV Club‎:

     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.

Anagrams

• Strobel, Stroble, bolters, lobster, reblots, rebolts, trobles

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bulstraz.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

bolster m (plural bolsters, diminutive bolstertje n)

1. a bur, a spiny cupule, often of a chestnut

Etymology

From Old Swedish bulster, bolster, from Old Norse bólstr, bulstr, from Proto-Germanic *bulstraz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- (“bag, pillow, paunch”). Compare Icelandic bólstur, Dutch bolster, German Polster and English bolster.

Noun

bolster n

1. a bolster, a large cushion or pillow