upholstery

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the padded covering of furniture, including its fabric, springs, webbing, and stuffing

   The chair's faded upholstery was replaced with durable green velvet.

2. 2
   noun

   the craft or business of fitting furniture with padded coverings

   She learned upholstery so that she could restore antique sofas.

From upholster + -y, recorded at the end of the sixteenth century. Upholster developed from Middle English upholdester, originally a dealer in household goods, bedding, and furnishings; the occupation narrowed to fitting furniture with fabric and padding, and upholstery named both the work and its materials.

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