footstool

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a low stool on which a seated person rests the feet

   She placed a footstool beneath the armchair and stretched out her legs.

2. 2
   noun

   a person or thing treated as subordinate or available to be trodden on

   The emperor boasted that the conquered province would become his footstool.

From Middle English footstool, a compound of foot + stool. The literal furniture sense is old; the figurative sense draws on the image of something placed under another's feet as a sign of submission.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary