BOLSTER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bolster mean? 

• BOLSTER (noun)
  The noun BOLSTER has 1 sense:

1. a pillow that is often put across a bed underneath the regular pillows

  Familiarity information: BOLSTER used as a noun is very rare.

• BOLSTER (verb)
  The verb BOLSTER has 3 senses:

1. support and strengthen

2. prop up with a pillow or bolster

3. add padding to

  Familiarity information: BOLSTER used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOLSTER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A pillow that is often put across a bed underneath the regular pillows

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bolster; long pillow

Hypernyms ("bolster" is a kind of...):

pillow (a cushion to support the head of a sleeping person)

Derivation:

bolster (prop up with a pillow or bolster)

• BOLSTER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bolster    ... he / she / it bolsters   
Past simple: bolstered   
Past participle: bolstered   
-ing form: bolstering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Support and strengthen

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bolster; bolster up

Context example:

bolster morale

Hypernyms (to "bolster" is one way to...):

reenforce; reinforce (make stronger)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Prop up with a pillow or bolster

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "bolster" is one way to...):

prop; prop up; shore; shore up (support by placing against something solid or rigid)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

bolster (a pillow that is often put across a bed underneath the regular pillows)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Add padding to

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bolster; pad

Context example:

pad the seat of the chair

Hypernyms (to "bolster" is one way to...):

fill; fill up; make full (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s something with something

 Context examples 

Bolstering cacao's resistance to disease is the most efficient and environmentally friendly approach for disease management, Guiltinan said.

(New way to identify disease-resistant genes in chocolate-producing trees, National Science Foundation)

The presence of the large complex molecules, along with liquid water and hydrothermal activity, bolsters the hypothesis that the ocean of Enceladus may be a habitable environment for life.

(Complex Organics Bubble up from Enceladus, NASA)

This finding bolsters other Hubble observations suggesting the icy moon erupts with high altitude water vapor plumes.

(Possible Water Plumes on Jupiter's Moon Europa, NASA)

How did you manage to get all the planets in our solar system to bolster your every wish, dear Virgo?

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Separately, two of the spacecraft’s instruments, the MapCam color imager and the OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer (OTES), have made detections of magnetite on Bennu’s surface, which bolsters earlier findings indicating the interaction of rock with liquid water on Bennu’s parent body.

(NASA Mission Reveals Asteroid Has Big Surprises, NASA)

For herself, she did nothing but caper about in the front chambers, jump on and off the bedsteads, and lie on the mattresses and piled-up bolsters and pillows before the enormous fires roaring in the chimneys.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

All the work you did over the past two years has bolstered your authority, and you are ready to receive all the gifts that Jupiter has in store for you.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

To bolster your romantic life, Pisces is the sign the ancient astrologers wrote was the finest place for Venus to be, for she exerts her most loving qualities when touring Pisces.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Not only do you have Jupiter, the planet of good fortune, staunchly supporting your every move by bolstering your Sun in Taurus, but you also have powerhouse Pluto and stabilizing Saturn behind you.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

You have a plethora of planets supporting you—six planets in earth signs and two in friendly water signs for a total of eight out of ten heavenly bodies, including the Sun and moon—to bolster your every wish, especially in early-to-mid January.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)