bolster. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

bolster

SYLLABICATION:	bol·ster
PRONUNCIATION:	blstr
NOUN:	A long narrow pillow or cushion.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	Inflected forms: bol·stered, bol·ster·ing, bol·sters 1. To support or prop up with or as if with a long narrow pillow or cushion. 2. To buoy up or hearten: Visitors bolstered the patient's morale.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English, from Old English. See bhelgh- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	bolster·er —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.