Bolster

How to spell bolster

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce bolster

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does bolster mean?

1. verbTo support, strengthen, or reinforce something.
2. nounA long, firm pillow or cushion, often placed along the head of a bed.

Bolster in a sentence

• verb

  The new figures should bolster the case for extra funding.

• noun

  She propped a firm bolster behind her back while reading in bed.

• verb

  Managers tried to bolster morale after the difficult quarter.

• noun

  The antique sofa came with a round bolster at each end.

Where does bolster come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Bolster comes straight from Old English bolster, the word for a long stuffed pad or cushion placed under a pillow. It belongs to a wide Germanic family: Dutch bolster and Old Norse bolstr both meant much the same thing, and all trace back to a root sense of something 'swollen' or 'puffed up' with stuffing. For centuries it stayed firmly literal, naming the firm bolster cushion that runs the width of a bed. The figurative verb, meaning to prop up, support, or strengthen, grew naturally out of that image of a cushion giving support, and was well established by the 1500s. The spelling has barely changed in a thousand years, which is why the tricky part is simply the unstressed second syllable, written -ster, not -stir or -sture.

How the word is built

• bolster (from Old English bolster: a cushion or pillow); used by extension as a verb meaning 'to prop up'