Cush"ion (k??sh"?n),
v. t. [imp. & p. p. Cushioned (-?nd); p. pr. & vb. Cushioning.]
1. To seat
or place on,
or as on a cushion.
Many who are cushioned on thrones would have remained in obscurity.
Bolingbroke.
2. To furnish with cushions; as, to cushion a chaise.
3. To conceal or cover up, as under a cushion.
Cushioned hammer, a dead-stroke hammer. See under Dead-stroke.
Cush"ion (k??sh"?n),
n. [OE. cuischun,
quisshen, OF. coissin, cuissin, F. coussin, fr. (assumed)
LL. culcitinum, dim. of L. culcita cushion, mattress, pillow. See Quilt, and cf. Counterpoint
a coverlet.]
1. A case or bag stuffed with some soft and elastic material, and used to sit
or recline upon; a soft pillow or pad.
Two
cushions stuffed with straw, the seat to raise.
Dryden.
2. Anything resembling a cushion in
properties or use; as: (a) a pad on which gilders cut gold leaf; (b) a mass of steam
in the end of the cylinder of a
steam engine to receive the impact of
the piston; (c) the elastic edge of a billiard
table.
3. A riotous kind of dance, formerly common at weddings; -- called also cushion dance. Halliwell.
Cushion capital.(Arch.) A capital so sculptured as to appear
like a cushion pressed down by the weight
of its entablature. (b) A name given to
a form of capital, much used in the Romanesque style, modeled
like a bowl,
the upper part of which
is cut away
on four sides, leaving vertical faces. -- Cushion star (Zoöl.) a pentagonal starfish belonging to Goniaster,
Astrogonium, and other
allied genera; -- so called from its form.
Hear it pronounced