Pillow vs. Bolster — What's the Difference?

A pillow is a support of the body at rest for comfort, therapy, or decoration. Pillows are used by many species, including humans.

A bolster is a long narrow pillow or cushion filled with cotton, down or fibre. Bolsters are usually firm for back or arm support or for decorative application.

A cloth case stuffed with something soft, such as down, feathers, or foam rubber, used to cushion a part of the body, especially the head during sleep.

A long narrow pillow or cushion.

A decorative cushion.

To support or prop up with or as if with a long narrow pillow or cushion.

The pad on which bobbin lace is made.

To buoy up or hearten

To rest (one's head) on or as if on a pillow.

A large cushion or pillow.

To serve as a pillow for

A pad, quilt, or anything used to hinder pressure, support part of the body, or make a bandage sit easy upon a wounded part; a compress.

To rest on or as if on a pillow.

A small spacer located on top of the axle of horse-drawn wagons that gives the front wheels enough clearance to turn.

To assume the shape of a pillow.

A short, horizontal structural timber between a post and a beam for enlarging the bearing area of the post and/or reducing the span of the beam.

A soft cushion used to support the head in bed.

A beam in the middle of a railway truck, supporting the body of the car.

(geology) A pillow lava.

The perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched.

(engineering) A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.

The part of a knife blade that abuts upon the end of the handle.

(nautical) A block under the inner end of a bowsprit.

The metallic end of a pocketknife handle.

The socket of a pivot.

(architectural element) The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital.

(uncountable) A kind of plain, coarse fustian.

A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation.

(transitive) To rest as on a pillow.

To brace, reinforce, secure, or support.

Anything used to support the head of a person when reposing; especially, a sack or case filled with feathers, down, hair, or other soft material.

A long pillow or cushion, used to support the head of a person lying on a bed; - generally laid under the pillows.

A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.

A pad, quilt, or anything used to hinder pressure, support any part of the body, or make a bandage sit easy upon a wounded part; a compress.

A block under the inner end of a bowsprit.

Anything arranged to act as a support, as in various forms of mechanism, etc.

A kind of plain, coarse fustian.

A cushioned or a piece part of a saddle.

To rest or lay upon, or as upon, a pillow; to support; as, to pillow the head.

A cushioned or a piece of soft wood covered with tarred canvas, placed on the trestletrees and against the mast, for the collars of the shrouds to rest on, to prevent chafing.

A cushion to support the head of a sleeping person

A plate of iron or a mass of wood under the end of a bridge girder, to keep the girder from resting directly on the abutment.

Rest on or as if on a pillow;

A transverse bar above the axle of a wagon, on which the bed or body rests.

The crossbeam forming the bearing piece of the body of a railway car; the central and principal cross beam of a car truck.

The perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched.

That part of a knife blade which abuts upon the end of the handle.

The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital.

A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation.

To support with a bolster or pillow.

To support, hold up, or maintain with difficulty or unusual effort; - often with up.

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

Support and strengthen;

Prop up with a pillow or bolster

Add padding to;