Bolster /(bōl"stẽr; 110)/

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

   And here I'll fling the pillow, there the bolster, This way the coverlet, another way the sheets.

2. 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.

   This arm shall be a bolster for thy head.

3. Anything arranged to act as a support, as in various forms of mechanism, etc.
4. A cushioned or a piece part of a saddle. (Saddlery)
5. 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. (Naut.)
6. 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.
7. A transverse bar above the axle of a wagon, on which the bed or body rests.
8. The crossbeam forming the bearing piece of the body of a railway car; the central and principal cross beam of a car truck.
9. the perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched. (Mech.)
10. That part of a knife blade which abuts upon the end of the handle. (Cutlery)
11. The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital. (Arch.)
12. A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation. (Mil.)

imp. & p. p. Bolstered; p. pr. & vb. n. Bolstering

1. To support with a bolster or pillow.
2. To support, hold up, or maintain with difficulty or unusual effort; -- often with up.

   To bolster baseness.

   Shoddy inventions designed to bolster up a factitious pride.