bolster
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: agriculture
architecture
business
government
lifestyle
military
politics
transport
vehicles
war
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: bolsters
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: boulster
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: bowster
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Scotland
form: bouster
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Scotland
form: boster
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Scotland
form: bolsters
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: bolstering
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: bolstered
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: bolstered
pos: verb
tags: past
form: boulster
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: bowster
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Scotland
form: bouster
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Scotland
form: boster
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Scotland
Senses:
gloss: A large cushion or pillow, usually cylindrical in shape.
pos: noun
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.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: A small spacer located on top of the axle of horse-drawn wagons that gives the front wheels enough clearance to turn.
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: A beam in the middle of a railway truck, supporting the body of the car.
pos: noun
gloss: The perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched.
pos: noun
gloss: The part of a knife blade that abuts upon the end of the handle.
pos: noun
gloss: The metallic end of a pocketknife handle.
pos: noun
gloss: The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital.
pos: noun
examples: Its [the Ionic's column's] ancient capital is generally formed of two parallel bolsters
gloss: A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation.
pos: noun
tags: historical
gloss: That which supports or promotes; a catalyst.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: My health too has been better since you took away that Montero cap. I have left off cayenned eggs and such bolsters to discomfort.
gloss: A wide-bladed cold chisel designed to split and shape bricks.
pos: noun
gloss: To brace, reinforce, secure, or support.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
often
transitive
examples: 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.
On a trip aimed at bolstering often-frayed ties with Riyadh, Sullivan also held joint talks with the crown prince, UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan and India national security adviser Ajit Doval "to advance their shared vision of a more secure and prosperous Middle East region interconnected with India and the world," the White House said.
Derived words: bolsterless
bolster wagon
bogie bolster wagon
Translations: