CUSHION

cushion

(noun) a soft bag filled with air or a mass of padding such as feathers or foam rubber etc.

cushion

(noun) the layer of air that supports a hovercraft or similar vehicle

cushion, buffer, soften

(verb) protect from impact; “cushion the blow”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

cushion (countable and uncountable, plural cushions)

A soft mass of material stuffed into a cloth bag, used for comfort or support; for sitting on, kneeling on, resting one's head on etc.

Something acting as a cushion, especially to absorb a shock or impact.

A pad on which gilders cut gold leaf.

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

(sports, billiards, snooker, pool) The lip around a table in cue sports which absorbs some of the impact of the billiard balls and bounces them back.

The pillow used in making bone lace.

An engraver's pad.

(historical) The rubber of an electrical machine.

(historical) A pad supporting a woman's hair.

(figuratively) a sufficient quantity of an intangible object (like points or minutes) to allow for some of those points, for example, to be lost without hurting one's chances for successfully completing an objective.

(finance, countable, uncountable) Money kept in reserve.

(obsolete) A riotous dance, formerly common at weddings.

Verb

cushion (third-person singular simple present cushions, present participle cushioning, simple past and past participle cushioned)

To furnish with cushions.

To seat or place on, or as on a cushion.

To absorb or deaden the impact of.

To conceal or cover up, as under a cushion.

Source: Wiktionary

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Cush"ion (ksh"n), n. Etym: [OE. cuischun, quisshen, OF. coissin, cuissin, F. coussin, fr. (assumed) LL. culcitinum, dim. of L. culcita cushion, mattress, pillow. See Quilt, and cf. Counterpoint a coverlet.]

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. Dryden.

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. Halliwell. Cushion capital.(Arch.) 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 (Zoöl.) a pentagonal starfish belonging to Goniaster, Astrogonium, and other allied genera; -- so called from its form.

Cush"ion (ksh"n), v. t. [imp. & p.p. Cushioned (-nd); p. pr. & vb. Cushioning.]

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

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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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