Cush·ion n.
1. A case or bag stuffed with some soft and elastic material, and used to sit or recline upon; a soft pillow or pad.
Two cushions stuffed with straw, the seat to raise. --Dryden.
2. Anything resembling a cushion in properties or use; as: (a) a pad on which gilders cut gold leaf; (b) a mass of steam in the end of the cylinder of a steam engine to receive the impact of the piston; (c) the elastic edge of a billiard table.
3. A riotous kind of dance, formerly common at weddings; -- called also cushion dance.
Cushion capital.Arch. A capital so sculptured as to appear like a cushion pressed down by the weight of its entablature. (b) A name given to a form of capital, much used in the Romanesque style, modeled like a bowl, the upper part of which is cut away on four sides, leaving vertical faces.
Cushion star Zool. a pentagonal starfish belonging to Goniaster, Astrogonium, and other allied genera; -- so called from its form.