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 Zool. a pentagonal starfish belonging to Goniaster, Astrogonium, and other allied genera; -- so called from its form.
© Webster 1913.
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.
© Webster 1913. | 
