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APG.American
Pronunciation Guide
HOW TO PRONOUNCE

cushion

/ˈkʊʃən/

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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:05
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What does cushion mean?

noun

  1. A soft mass of material stuffed into a cloth bag, used for comfort or support.
  2. A throw pillow.
  3. A thin, flat pad used on hard chairs and sometimes toilet seats.
More meanings (14)

noun

  1. A pad on which gilders cut gold leaf.
  2. A mass of steam in the end of the cylinder of a steam engine to receive the impact of the piston.
  3. The lip around a table in cue sports which absorbs some of the impact of the billiard balls and bounces them back.
  4. The pillow used in making bone lace.
  5. An engraver's pad.
  6. (figuratively) a sufficient quantity of an intangible object (like points or minutes) to allow for some of those points, for example, to be lost without hurting one's chances for successfully completing an objective.
  7. (figuratively) Money kept in reserve.
  8. (historical) The rubber of an electrical machine.
  9. (historical) A pad supporting a woman's hair.
  10. (historical) The dancer in the cushion dance who currently holds the cushion, or the dance itself.

verb

  1. To furnish with cushions.
  2. To seat or place on, or as on a cushion.
  3. (figuratively) To absorb or deaden the impact of.
  4. (figuratively) To conceal or cover up, as under a cushion.
Wiktionary contributors

Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0

IPA pronunciation

/ˈkʊʃən/

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗

Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.

In the pages of books

See this word in context.

On this night Becky sat on a cushion upon the hearth rug and had a cup and saucer of her own.
Frances Hodgson BurnettA Little Princess Being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first timeProject Gutenberg ebook #146
He sat me down in a chair, patting me as though I were a cushion, pressed cigars upon me, cakes, wine.
W. Somerset (William Somerset) MaughamThe Moon and SixpenceProject Gutenberg ebook #222
More book examples (3)
Brilliant cloths of many hues and strange patterns formed the soft cushion covering of the dais upon which they reclined about her.
Edgar Rice BurroughsThe gods of MarsProject Gutenberg ebook #64
Jude offered him a piece of sackcloth for a cushion, and told him it was dangerous to sit on the bare block.
Thomas HardyJude the ObscureProject Gutenberg ebook #153
THE VELVETY TISSUE.--This is the portion of the keratogenous membrane covering the plantar surface of the os pedis and the plantar cushion.
H. Caulton (Harry Caulton) ReeksDiseases of the Horse's FootProject Gutenberg ebook #11204