CUSHION • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Cushion

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/kˈʊʃən/ Listen

noun

Cushion n.

1.

A case or bag stuffed with some soft and elastic material, and used to sit or recline upon; a soft pillow or pad. "Two cushions stuffed with straw, the seat to raise."

2.

Anything resembling a cushion in properties or use; as:

(a)

A pad on which gilders cut gold leaf;

(b)

A mass of steam in the end of the cylinder of a steam engine to receive the impact of the piston;

(c)

The elastic edge of a billiard table.

3.

A riotous kind of dance, formerly common at weddings; called also cushion dance.

Cushion capital.(Arch.)

(a)

A capital so sculptured as to appear like a cushion pressed down by the weight of its entablature.

(b)

A name given to a form of capital, much used in the Romanesque style, modeled like a bowl, the upper part of which is cut away on four sides, leaving vertical faces.

Cushion star (Zool.) a pentagonal starfish belonging to Goniaster, Astrogonium, and other allied genera; so called from its form.

verb

Cushion v. t. (past & past part. cushioned; pres. part. cushioning)

1.

To seat or place on, or as on a cushion. "Many who are cushioned on thrones would have remained in obscurity."

2.

To furnish with cushions; as, to cushion a chaise.

3.

To conceal or cover up, as under a cushion.

Cushioned hammer, a dead-stroke hammer. See under Dead-stroke.

See images of 'Cushion'

Etymology of 'Cushion'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Cushion" Quotes from Famous Books

... talked by the fireplace, delighting in each other's company, and he would not have forgotten to put them before us in their afternoon walks, sharing between them Violet's knick-knacks, her wraps, her scarf, her fan, her parasol, her cushion. His last chapter would probably be in a ball-room, husband and lover standing by the door watching the Marchioness swinging round the room on the arm of a young subaltern. 'Other women are younger than she, Kilcarney, but who is as graceful? Have you ever seen ...

— Muslin • George Moore

... went off on a shopping excursion. Shops were few and far between at Hillsover; but they found a neat little maple wash-stand and rocking-chair, and papa also bought a comfortable low chair, with a slatted back and a cushion. This ...

— What Katy Did At School • Susan Coolidge

... down I found her sitting in front of the fire, wrapped in a Chinese robe of black and gold. You can imagine the effect of that with the red of her hair and the red of her cheeks and lips. Her feet, in black satin slippers, were on a jade-green cushion, and back of her head was the strip of brocade that she had bought with her housekeeping money. It was a gorgeous bit, repeating the color of the cushion, and with a touch of blue which matched ...

— The Gay Cockade • Temple Bailey

... ticketed "Moses and Son—dear at 18s. 6d." The pounce-box is a formidable missile, and frequently nearly blinds the unwary. As P. passes K.'s desk, the latter slily extends his foot in order to trip him up; and when K. rises from his stool, he finds his coat-tail pinned to the cushion, and is likely to lose a portion of it before he is extricated. Yet these men are capable of extreme liberality. Some years ago knocking off hats and chalking one another's backs was a favourite amusement on the Stock Exchange, as a vent for surplus excitement, and on the 5th of November a cart-load ...

— Old and New London - Volume I • Walter Thornbury

... one, even two of us could manage it with perfect ease; and we thus daily, and sometimes twice a day, made a trip to the mouth of the river. To shelter her from the sun, we formed an awning over the stern of the boat; and carried a cushion on ...

— Twice Lost • W.H.G. Kingston

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