What's the difference between bolster and pillow?

Bolster


Definition:

  • (n.) A long pillow or cushion, used to support the head of a person lying on a bed; -- generally laid under the pillows.
  • (n.) 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.
  • (n.) Anything arranged to act as a support, as in various forms of mechanism, etc.
  • (n.) A cushioned or a piece part of a saddle.
  • (n.) 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.
  • (n.) Anything used to prevent chafing.
  • (n.) 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.
  • (n.) A transverse bar above the axle of a wagon, on which the bed or body rests.
  • (n.) The crossbeam forming the bearing piece of the body of a railway car; the central and principal cross beam of a car truck.
  • (n.) the perforated plate in a punching machine on which anything rests when being punched.
  • (n.) That part of a knife blade which abuts upon the end of the handle.
  • (n.) The metallic end of a pocketknife handle.
  • (n.) The rolls forming the ends or sides of the Ionic capital.
  • (n.) A block of wood on the carriage of a siege gun, upon which the breech of the gun rests when arranged for transportation.
  • (v. t.) To support with a bolster or pillow.
  • (v. t.) To support, hold up, or maintain with difficulty or unusual effort; -- often with up.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) His senior role in the Popalzai tribe and his chairmanship since 2005 of Kandahar provincial council bolstered his reputation as an Asian version of a mafia don.
  • (2) And if the Brexit vote was somehow not respected by Westminster, Le Pen could be bolstered in her outrage.
  • (3) • Mubarak becomes a major mediator in the Arab-Israeli peace process, remaining a consistent US ally bolstered by billions of dollars in American aid.
  • (4) The AP reports: The incremental assistance would be aimed both at bolstering the Ukrainian military as it seeks to halt the advances of pro-Russian forces in the east, as well as showing symbolic U.S. support for Ukraine's efforts.
  • (5) Clegg went on: "Unless there's overwhelming evidence that this [campaign] is a really effective way of bolstering public confidence in the immigration system, and bearing down on illegal behaviour in the immigration system, I'm going to need a lot of persuasion this is something [we want to continue]."
  • (6) A description of sleeping arrangements of the Kung San people of the Kalahari desert; speculations of the need for arousability in primitive society to prevent predators from attacking serve to bolster the view point.
  • (7) The survey was conducted at the end of a year in which Chinese growth had slowed and the eurozone stagnated, raising expectations that Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank will try to bolster the eurozone by starting QE on Thursday .
  • (8) The link between IUD use and pelvic inflammatory disease is bolstered by data showing a 3-fold increase in salpingitis in IUD users compared with women in general.
  • (9) Downing Street was irritated when Michael Gove bolstered Eurosceptics on Sunday, the day of Cameron's departure for the US, by saying he would vote to leave the EU if a referendum were held now.
  • (10) Jinsa describes its mandate as two-fold: "To educate the American public about the importance of an effective US defence capability...and to inform the American defence and foreign affairs community about the important role Israel can and does play in bolstering democratic interests in the Mediterranean and the Middle East."
  • (11) At the request of the state governor, the interim president, Michel Temer, has authorized 1,000 soldiers and 200 marines to bolster security.
  • (12) Jared Genser Germany went public with its anger about Beijing’s handling of Liu’s case on Monday, accusing Chinese security services of leaking surveillance footage of Liu being visited by a German doctor in order to bolster a propaganda campaign pushing the idea that the dissident was too ill to be evacuated from China.
  • (13) The Bank of England sends a clear message to banks today to cut staff bonuses and share dividends so that they can bolster their capital cushions while maintaining lending to businesses and households.
  • (14) In a review published on Thursday, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (Icai) says the Department for International Development (DfID) has failed to turn rhetoric about how bolstering the private sector can help end global poverty into a realistic, well-balanced and joined-up portfolio of programmes.
  • (15) It would also bolster the image of the Socialist president, François Hollande , as a social reformer after a hotly contested move to legalise gay marriage in 2012.
  • (16) For months, Tom McCarthy’s journalistic thriller Spotlight has been at the head of the pack – further bolstered by its recent Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations.
  • (17) Primark’s heady pace of expansion has bolstered ABF, which is grappling with lower sugar prices that have reduced profits in its core business.
  • (18) He would have liked to spend the summer bolstering his case for a critical autumn referendum on constitutional reforms he supports, but instead he has been forced to grapple with the banking issues.
  • (19) The salience of immigration is reinforced by a separate question in which "curbing immigration" comes top of varied populist policies as the "single action politicians could take to bolster your faith in politics", with 26% picking that priority, as against 19% who prefer tax cuts and 15% who prioritise a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU.
  • (20) Criticism that Africa is allowing its natural resources to be exploited, and that China is content to bolster dictators and ignore human rights abuses, merely feeds the partners' anti-western sentiment.

Pillow


Definition:

  • (n.) 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.
  • (n.) A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.
  • (n.) A block under the inner end of a bowsprit.
  • (n.) A kind of plain, coarse fustian.
  • (v. t.) To rest or lay upon, or as upon, a pillow; to support; as, to pillow the head.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) And we hit the pillow saying, 'I didn't get enough done.'"
  • (2) Care of the experimental babies included supporting the head on a small water pillow and supporting the torso at the same level to avoid flexion or curvature of the spine; the control group received customary care.
  • (3) Twenty-two of the experimental group completed one year of dust avoidance and 19 of these tolerated the use of plastic mattress and pillow covers.
  • (4) She might as well have got into a pillow fight with Mike Tyson – fun to watch, but the result scarcely in doubt.
  • (5) Regardless of how many pillows I piled under my knees, it bubbled up until it hit a crescendo.
  • (6) I woke up at about three in the morning, lying in bed, with my pillow propped up, and wrote four pages.
  • (7) The bedclothes and pillows of each subject were laundered and vacuum-cleaned and a plastic cover applied to the mattress for six weeks in an attempt to reduce exposure to mites.
  • (8) Poroshenko told the Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, the country would always have to sleep “with a revolver under the pillow” given the threat from the east.
  • (9) Ignorance of the scale of the challenge can sometimes be bliss, he added: “You can be halfway up the mountain before you realise what the challenges are.” Stapleton’s keynote speech was followed by a panel discussion by the owners of three very different businesses: Joanna Montgomery, who founded Little Riot , which makes Pillow Talk wristbands; Nick Edwards, founder of software company Papaya Resources ; and Arpana Gandhi, who founded Disarmco , a company that has developed a safe way of disposing of landmines and other unexploded ordnance (explosive weapons).
  • (10) It was as if someone was putting a pillow over my face and trying to suffocate me every minute and a half throughout the night.
  • (11) A strain of T. cutaneum was isolated from 1 patient's pillow.
  • (12) Sleeping on the space station is a question merely of floating, "no need for a mattress or pillow", Hadfield writes.
  • (13) When James lay down to sleep, he retched from the smell then ran out the door with his pillow to throw it away, everyone laughing.
  • (14) Through the proper positioning of pillows, a patient is supported above the surface of the bed with free space between the bony prominences and the bed surface.
  • (15) The effect of a wedge-shaped pillow (Ozzlo pillow) was compared with a standard hospital pillow, used to support the abdomen of a pregnant woman while lying on her side, in preventing or alleviating backache and backache-related insomnia; 92 women at 36 weeks' gestation completed the study.
  • (16) The abduction pillow can in no way be used for prevention.
  • (17) Therefore, we conclude that a heart level pillow may reduce one common and important error in the indirect measurement of blood pressure.
  • (18) The procedure involves the combined principle of rigidly placed support under the urethra to which is attached an inflatable, adjustable pillow, allowing for fine control of the urethral resistance.
  • (19) Two shelters have been set up on Hudson Street, and people are being asked for blankets, pillows and other items to help make the evacuated more comfortable.
  • (20) 101 children in Tromsö, Norway, treated with the Frejka pillow for 4.5 months because of neonatal hip instability (NHI) were compared with 307 children in Malmö, Sweden, treated with the von Rosen splint for 3 months.