Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A cloth case stuffed with something soft, such as down, feathers, or foam rubber, used to cushion the head, especially during sleep.
  • noun A decorative cushion.
  • noun The pad on which bobbin lace is made.
  • intransitive verb To rest (one's head) on or as if on a pillow.
  • intransitive verb To serve as a pillow for.
  • intransitive verb To rest on or as if on a pillow.
  • intransitive verb To assume the shape of a pillow.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A head-rest used by a person reclining; specifically, a soft elastic cushion filled with down, feathers, curled hair, or other yielding material, used to support the head during repose.
  • noun A block or support resembling such a cushion in form or use.
  • noun A kind of plain fustian.
  • To rest or place on or as on a pillow for support.
  • To rest the head on or as on a pillow.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To rest or lay upon, or as upon, a pillow; to support.
  • noun 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.
  • noun (Mach.), rare A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.
  • noun (Naut.) A block under the inner end of a bowsprit.
  • noun A kind of plain, coarse fustian.
  • noun a cushion used in making hand-wrought lace.
  • noun [Obs.] a pillowcase; pillow slip.
  • noun (Mach.) a block, or standard, for supporting a journal, as of a shaft. It is usually bolted to the frame or foundation of a machine, and is often furnished with journal boxes, and a movable cover, or cap, for tightening the bearings by means of bolts; -- called also pillar block, or plumber block.
  • noun handmade lace wrought with bobbins upon a lace pillow.
  • noun a crosspiece of wood which serves to raise or lower the beam.
  • noun an ornamental covering laid over a pillow when not in use.
  • noun a pillowcase.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A soft cushion used to support the head in bed.
  • noun geology A pillow lava.
  • verb transitive To rest as on a pillow.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cushion to support the head of a sleeping person
  • verb rest on or as if on a pillow

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English pyle, pylu, pylw-, from West Germanic *pulwī, from Latin pulvīnus.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English pilwe, from Old English pylwe, pylu, pyle ("pillow"), from Proto-Germanic *pulwin (“pillow”), from Latin pulvīnus ("cushion"), of unknown origin. Cognate with Dutch peluw ("pillow, bolster"), German Pfühl ("pillow").

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