different between mattress vs bolster

English

Etymology

From Middle English materas, from Old French, from Arabic ???????? (ma?ra?, “place where something is thrown”), from ??????? (?ara?a, “to throw”). Compare divan, from Persian via Turkish (both of Middle Eastern origin, due to the local custom of lying on padding on floor being foreign to Europeans).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?mæt??s/

Noun

mattress (plural mattresses)

1. A pad on which a person can recline and sleep, usually having an inner section of coiled springs covered with foam or other cushioning material then enclosed with cloth fabric.
2. A form of retaining wall used to support foundations or an embankment

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• bottom sheet
• futon

Verb

mattress (third-person singular simple present mattresses, present participle mattressing, simple past and past participle mattressed)

1. (transitive) To cover with a thick layer, like a mattress; to blanket.
   • 1997, Andrew R. M. Patterson, A planet through a field of stars (page 123)

     A comfortable litter of pine needles had mattressed the ground and spreading branches had been a canopy overhead.

Anagrams

• smart set, smartest, smatters

English

Alternative forms

• boulster
• bowster, bouster, boster (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English bolster, bolstre, from Old English bolster (“pillow”), from Proto-Germanic *bulstraz, *bulstr? (“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): /?b??lst?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?bo?lst?/

Noun

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.

   • 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part I, VII [Uniform ed., p. 84]:

     "Don’t you know how 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?

     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.

   Synonyms: cross-head, 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.

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

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.

Synonyms

• Dutch wife

Translations

Verb

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

1. (transitive, often figuratively) To brace, reinforce, secure, or support.

Translations

Anagrams

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

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): /?b?l.st?r/
• Hyphenation: bol?ster
• Rhymes: -?lst?r

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): /?b?lst?r/

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): /?bol.ster/, [?bo?.ster]

Noun

bolster m

1. pillow

Declension

Synonyms

• pyle
• wangere

Derived terms

• bedbolster
• h?afodbolster
• hl?orbolster

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 *b?el??- (“bag, pillow, paunch”). Compare Icelandic bólstur, Dutch bolster, German Polster and English bolster.

Noun

bolster n

1. a bolster, a large cushion or pillow

Declension