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Cushion

//ˈkʊʃən// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun

1
A soft mass of material stuffed into a cloth bag, used for comfort or support. countable, uncountable
"“There the cause of death was soon ascertained ; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which […] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom.[…]”"
2
a soft bag filled with air or a mass of padding such as feathers or foam rubber etc. wordnet
3
A soft mass of material stuffed into a cloth bag, used for comfort or support.; A throw pillow. Commonwealth, countable, uncountable
4
the layer of air that supports a hovercraft or similar vehicle wordnet
5
A soft mass of material stuffed into a cloth bag, used for comfort or support.; A thin, flat pad used on hard chairs and sometimes toilet seats. countable, uncountable

Show 11 more definitions

6
a mechanical damper; absorbs energy of sudden impulses wordnet
7
Something acting as a cushion, especially to absorb a shock or impact.; A pad on which gilders cut gold leaf. countable, uncountable
8
Something acting as a cushion, especially to absorb a shock or impact.; A mass of steam in the end of the cylinder of a steam engine to receive the impact of the piston. countable, uncountable
9
Something acting as a cushion, especially to absorb a shock or impact.; The lip around a table in cue sports which absorbs some of the impact of the billiard balls and bounces them back. countable, uncountable
10
Something acting as a cushion, especially to absorb a shock or impact.; The pillow used in making bone lace. countable, uncountable
11
Something acting as a cushion, especially to absorb a shock or impact.; An engraver's pad. countable, uncountable
12
Something acting as a cushion, especially to absorb a shock or impact.; The rubber of an electrical machine. countable, historical, uncountable
13
Something acting as a cushion, especially to absorb a shock or impact.; A pad supporting a woman's hair. countable, historical, uncountable
14
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. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"Wisla made a bright start to the second half and Fulham keeper Mark Schwarzer was twice called into action, first saving Gervasio Nunez's deflected 20-yard effort and then smothering Gargula's free-kick. But Fulham soon had the cushion of a third goal after more outstanding build-up play."
15
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.; Money kept in reserve. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"The entry-level wages are abominable, still something like $15,000 a year. You can't possibly be a working class person and live on that in New York City. You need some kind of family "cushion." So what you'll find in publishing is middle class professionals, people who see material about working class people as "foreign.""
16
The dancer in the cushion dance who currently holds the cushion, or the dance itself. countable, historical, uncountable
"But of these kind of second Courses I am the onely Cook; though yet those ordinary practises of our Feasts, as choosing a King, throwing Dice, drinking Healths, trouling it Round, dancing the Cushion and the like, were not invented by the seven Wise Men but my Self, and that too for the common pleasure of Mankind."

Verb

1
To furnish with cushions.
"to cushion a sofa"
2
protect from impact wordnet
3
To seat or place on, or as on a cushion.
"How many doughty monarchs, in later and more polite ages, would have slept in cottages, and have worked in falls, instead of inhabiting palaces, and being cushioned up in thrones, if this rule of government had continued in force ?"
4
To absorb or deaden the impact of. figuratively
"to cushion a blow"
5
To conceal or cover up, as under a cushion. figuratively

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English quysshyn, from later Old French coissin (modern coussin), from Vulgar Latin *coxīnus (“seat pad”), derived from Latin coxa (“hip, thigh”) (with the suffix possibly after Latin pulvīnus (“pillow”)), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *koḱs- (“joint, limb”).

Etymology 2

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