bolster

See also: Bolster

English

A bolster on a bed.

Alternative forms

• boulster
• bowster, bouster, boster (Scotland)

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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒlstə/, /ˈbəʊlstə/; [ˈbɒʊlstə]

  • Audio (Southern England); /ˈbɒlstə/:

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈboʊlstɚ/

Noun

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

bolster (plural bolsters)

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

   Synonyms: Dutch wife, hotdog pillow

   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

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

   • 1907 April, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter VII, in The Longest Journey, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part I (Cambridge), page 88:

     ["]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.

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.
   • [1715], [John] Gay, The What D’Ye Call It: A Tragi-comi-pastoral Farce, London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 11:

     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.

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.

   Synonyms: crosshead, pillow

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.
9. (architecture) The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital.
   • 1826, Francesco Milizia, The Lives of Celebrated Architects Ancient and Modern:

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

10. (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.
11. (figurative) That which supports or promotes; a catalyst.
    • 1867, Charles Lamb, ‎Thomas Noon Talfourd, Works: Including His Most Interesting Letters (page 225)

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

Derived terms

• bolsterless
• bolster wagon
• bogie bolster wagon

Translations

large cushion or pillow

• Bengali: পাশবালিশ (bn) (paśbaliś), কোলবালিশ (bn) (kōlbaliś)
• Brunei Malay: bantal paluk
• Bulgarian: възглавница (bg) f (vǎzglavnica)
• Catalan: coixí (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 靠枕 (zh), 墊枕／垫枕

• Czech: podhlavník
• Danish: bolster
• Finnish: tyyny (fi)
• French: traversin (fr) m
• Galician: traveseiro m
• Gallurese: capitzali
• Georgian: მუთაქა (ka) (mutaka)
• German: Polster (de) n (Austria m), Nackenrolle f
• Greek: μαξιλάρα (el) f (maxilára)
• Hungarian: vánkos (hu), hengerpárna, nagypárna, párna (hu)
• Indonesian: guling (id), bantal guling (id)
• Irish: adhairt f, ceannadhairt f, babhstar (leapa) m
• Italian: capezzale (it) m
• Latin: cervīcal n
• Macedonian: пе́рница (mk) f (pérnica)
• Ottoman Turkish: یاصدق (yasdık), بالش (baliş)
• Persian: متکا (fa) (motakâ)
• Portuguese: cabeceira (pt) f, travesseiro (pt)
• Russian: поду́шка (ru) f (podúška), ва́лик (ru) m (válik)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: cabetzèra, cabitzali

• Sassarese: cabitzari
• Spanish: cabecera (es), almohada (es), almohadón (es) m
• Swedish: bolster (sv)
• Tarifit: tsummet f, tsunta f
• Telugu: దిండు (te) (diṇḍu)
• Thai: หมอนข้าง (th) (mɔ̌ɔn-kâang)
• Walloon: tchefsî (wa) m

short, horizontal, structural timber between a post and a beam

• Spanish: zapata (es) f

perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched

• Spanish: matriz (es) f

the part of a knife blade that abuts upon the end of the handle

metallic end of a pocketknife handle

(architecture) the rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital

• Spanish: volutas (es) f pl

Verb

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

1. (transitive, often figurative) 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^[1]:

     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.

   • 2019 October, Philip Sherratt, “Midland Main Line upgrade presses on”, in Modern Railways, page 62:

     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.

   • 2022 January 12, Chris Hegg, “The secret railway in the woods”, in RAIL, number 948, page 36:

     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.

   • 2023 May 8, Matt Spetalnick, “Top Biden aide discusses Yemen peace efforts with Saudi crown prince”, in Reuters‎^[2]:

     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 terms

• bolsterer
• bolsterment
• bolster up
• embolster
• rebolster
• unbolster

 

Translations

to brace, reinforce, secure, or support

• Bulgarian: подпирам (bg) (podpiram), поддържам (bg) (poddǎržam), крепя (bg) (krepja)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 加强 (zh) (jiāqiáng), 支持 (zh) (zhīchí), 巩固 (zh) (gǒnggù)

• Czech: posílit se
• Dutch: versterken (nl), veilig stellen, ondersteunen (nl), stutten (nl)
• Finnish: tukea (fi), vahvistaa (fi)
• French: soutenir (fr), renforcer (fr), appuyer (fr)
• German: polstern (de), unterstützen (de), verstärken (de), bestärken (de)
• Greek: στυλώνω (el) (stylóno), υποστηρίζω (el) (ypostirízo)
• Italian: accrescere (it), rafforzare (it), consolidare (it)
• Japanese: 抱き枕 (ja)
• Maori: whakamarohi, haukaha, whakatete
• Portuguese: apoiar (pt)
• Russian: подпира́ть (ru) (podpirátʹ), подде́рживать (ru) (poddérživatʹ), крепи́ть (ru) (krepítʹ)
• Spanish: reforzar (es), sostener (es)
• Swedish: stödja (sv)

Anagrams

• trobles, lobster, Strobel, Bortles, rebolts, bolters, orblets, Bolters, reblots, Stroble

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch bolster, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *bulstraz. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔl.stər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bol‧ster
• Rhymes: -ɔlstər

Noun

bolster m (plural bolsters, diminutive bolstertje n)

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

Derived terms

• bolsteren
• ontbolsteren

Middle English

Alternative forms

• bolstre, bolstere, bowstur (northern)

Etymology

From Old English bolster, from Proto-Germanic *bulstraz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔlstər/

Noun

bolster (plural bolsters)

1. A soft stuffed bag to lie or lean on; a cushion or pillow.
2. (rare) A pad; a piece of cushioning.
3. (rare) A supporting piece of metal.

Descendants

• English: bolster
• Scots: bowster, bouster, boster

References

• “bolster, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-09-14.

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *bulstraz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbol.ster/, [ˈboɫ.ster]

Noun

bolster m

1. pillow, cushion

   Tō slāpenne iċ þearf simle hūru twēġa bolstra.

   I always need at least two pillows to sleep.

Declension

Declension of bolster (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	bolster	bolstras
accusative	bolster	bolstras
genitive	bolstres	bolstra
dative	bolstre	bolstrum

Synonyms

• pyle
• wangere

Derived terms

• bedbolster
• hēafodbolster
• hlēorbolster

Descendants

• Middle English: bolster, bolstre, bolstere, bowstur
  • English: bolster
  • Scots: bowster, bouster, boster

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish bulster, bolster, from Old Norse bólstr, bulstr, from Proto-Germanic *bulstraz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰelǵʰ- (“bag, pillow, paunch”).

Noun

bolster n

1. a bolster (a large cushion or pillow)

Declension

Declension of bolster

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	bolster	bolsters
	definite	bolstret	bolstrets
plural	indefinite	bolster	bolsters
	definite	bolstren	bolstrens

Further reading

• bolster in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• bolster in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• bolster in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• bolster in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)
• bulster in Knut Fredrik Söderwall, Ordbok öfver svenska medeltids-språket, del 1: A-L