pillow

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a cushion to support the head of a sleeping person

   I bought a new, fluffy pillow.

2. 2
   verb

   to rest on or as if on a pillow

   Pillow your head on my lap.

3. 3
   noun

   A soft cushion used to support the head in bed.

   The appearance of the entire tomb is as if the warrior had seen the vision of Christ in his dying moments, and had fallen back peacefully upon his pillow, with his eyes still turned to it, and his hands clasped in prayer.

4. 4
   verb

   To rest as on a pillow.

   ...but Lucy was too thoroughly exhausted to awaken. There she lay, her head pillowed upon her arm, like a child that had cried itself to rest; while Francesca bent over her,...

5. 5
   noun

   Any similar head support used for sleep, such as a neck pillow or a hard porcelain pillow. Example: She slept with her head on the pillow.

6. 6
   noun

   A pillow lava.

7. 7
   noun

   A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.

8. 8
   noun

   A block under the inner end of a bowsprit.

Etymology

From Middle English pilwe, from Old English pyle, pylu (“pillow”), from Proto-West Germanic *pulwī (“pillow”), from Latin pulvīnus (“cushion”), derived from pulvis (“dust, powder”) + -īnus (“-ine”), for the filler of a pillow. Doublet of pulvinus. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Peel (“pillow”), Alemannic German Pfulme (“pillow”), Dutch peluw (“a long, narrow pillow”), German Pfühl (“a big and soft pillow”), German Low German Pöhl (“pad, pillow, cushion”).