bolster
pronunciation
How to pronounce bolster in British English:
UK [ˈbəʊlstə(r)]
How to pronounce bolster in American English:
US [ˈboʊlstər]
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- Noun:
- a pillow that is often put across a bed underneath the regular pillows
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- Verb:
- support and strengthen
- prop up with a pillow or bolster
- add padding to
Word Origin
- bolster
- bolster: [OE] The idea underlying bolster ‘long pillow’ is of something stuffed, so that it swells up. It comes from a prehistoric Germanic *bolstraz, which was a derivative of *bolg-, *bulg- (source also of bellows, belly, billow and possibly bell, bellow, and bold). German has the related polster ‘cushion, pillow’.=> bell, bellow, belly, billow, bold
- bolster (v.)
- mid-15c. (implied in bolstered), "propped up, made to bulge" (originally of a woman's breasts), from bolster (n.). Figurative sense is from c. 1500, on the notion of "to support with a bolster, prop up." Related: Bolstering.
- bolster (n.)
- Old English bolster "bolster, cushion, something stuffed so that it swells up," especially "long, stuffed pillow," from Proto-Germanic *bolkhstraz (cognates: Old Norse bolstr, Danish, Swedish, Dutch bolster, German polster), from PIE *bhelgh- "to swell" (see belly (n.)).
Example
- 1. This will allow the government to bolster its stake .
- 2. Further evidence of japanese weakness could bolster that view .
- 3. The obama administration , too , faces a dilemma over how to bolster india without angering china and pakistan .
- 4. Mr abulafia enjoys using arcane detail to bolster his arguments .
- 5. This week 's events will bolster that case .