pillow

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word pillow. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word pillow, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say pillow in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word pillow you have here. The definition of the word pillow will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofpillow, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Pillow

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
Pillows (soft cushions)

Etymology

From Middle English pilwe, from Old English pylwe, pylu, pyle (“pillow”), from Proto-West Germanic *pulwī (“pillow”), from Latin pulvīnus (“cushion”), derived from pulvis (“dust, powder”) +‎ -īnus (“-ine”), for the filler of a pillow. Doublet of pulvinus.

Pronunciation

Noun

pillow (countable and uncountable, plural pillows)

  2. A soft cushion used to support the head in bed.
    • 1853, John Ruskin, “Roman Renaissance”, in The Stones of Venice, volume III (The Fall), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., , →OCLC, § LVII, page 74:
      The appearance of the entire tomb is as if the warrior had seen the vision of Christ in his dying moments, and had fallen back peacefully upon his pillow, with his eyes still turned to it, and his hands clasped in prayer.
  3. Any similar head support used for sleep, such as a neck pillow or a hard porcelain pillow.
  4. (geology) A pillow lava.
  5. (engineering) A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.
  6. (nautical) A block under the inner end of a bowsprit.
  7. The socket of a pivot.
  8. (uncountable) A kind of plain, coarse fustian.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Maori: pera

Translations

Verb

pillow (third-person singular simple present pillows, present participle pillowing, simple past and past participle pillowed)

  1. (transitive) To rest as on a pillow.
    • 1834, L E L, chapter X, in Francesca Carrara. , volume III, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 73:
      ...but Lucy was too thoroughly exhausted to awaken. There she lay, her head pillowed upon her arm, like a child that had cried itself to rest; while Francesca bent over her,...
    • 1890, Jacob A Riis, “The Sweaters of Jewtown”, in How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 135:
      As we stop in front of a tenement to watch one of these groups, a dirty baby in a single brief garment—yet a sweet, human little baby despite its dirt and tatters—tumbles off the lowest step, rolls over once, clutches my leg with unconscious grip, and goes to sleep on the flagstones, its curly head pillowed on my boot.
    • 1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, pages 815–6:
      She had pillowed her head on her arm.
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia