Library / English Dictionary

PILLOW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A cushion to support the head of a sleeping person

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("pillow" is a kind of...):

cushion (a soft bag filled with air or a mass of padding such as feathers or foam rubber etc.)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pillow"):

bed pillow (a soft pillow for use on a bed)

bolster; long pillow (a pillow that is often put across a bed underneath the regular pillows)

Derivation:

pillow (rest on or as if on a pillow)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Rest on or as if on a pillow

Example:

pillow your head

Synonyms:

pillow; rest

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "pillow" is one way to...):

lay; place; pose; position; put; set (put into a certain place or abstract location)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

pillow (a cushion to support the head of a sleeping person)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The bed was in the centre of the room, and in it, propped up with pillows, was the owner of the house.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His eyes went lack-lustre, and he lay back on the pillow, pulling the blanket about him and up to his chin.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And now I may dismiss my heroine to the sleepless couch, which is the true heroine's portion; to a pillow strewed with thorns and wet with tears.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

His head sank back upon the pillow and he gave a deep sigh of relief as I replaced the box upon the mantelpiece.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To get rid of bedbugs: • Wash and dry bedding and clothing at high temperatures. • Use mattress, box spring, and pillow encasements to trap bedbugs and help detect infestations. • Use pesticides if needed.

(Bedbugs, Environmental Protection Agency)

Her sister's earnest, though gentle persuasion, however, soon softened her to compliance, and Elinor saw her lay her aching head on the pillow, and as she hoped, in a way to get some quiet rest before she left her.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

I tell you, my fair lord, she was saying, that it is no fit training for a demoiselle: hawks and hounds, rotes and citoles singing a French rondel, or reading the Gestes de Doon de Mayence, as I found her yesternight, pretending sleep, the artful, with the corner of the scroll thrusting forth from under her pillow.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Even some small characteristic, such as having an apricot tart on your sideboard all the year round, or putting your candle out at night by stuffing it under your pillow, serves to separate you from your neighbour.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The same lulling sounds acted as a lullaby to my too keen sensations; when I placed my head upon my pillow, sleep crept over me; I felt it as it came and blessed the giver of oblivion.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Some were condensing air into a dry tangible substance, by extracting the nitre, and letting the aqueous or fluid particles percolate; others softening marble, for pillows and pin-cushions; others petrifying the hoofs of a living horse, to preserve them from foundering.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)