• Danish: bande
• Finnish: valli
• German: Bande
• Italian: sponda
• Japanese: クッション (kusshon)
• Polish: banda
• Portuguese: tabela
• Spanish: banda
• Swedish: vall
• Ukrainian: борт

• Danish: polstre
• German: polstern
• Serbian: obžiti, ublažiti
• Slovene: oblaziniti
• Spanish: amortiguar
• Swedish: stoppa, madrassera

• Danish: afbøde
• Finnish: pehmentää
• French: amortir
• German: abdämpfen, abfedern
• Portuguese: amortecer
• Russian: смягчать удар
• Serbian: ublažiti
• Slovene: ublažiti (udarec)
• Spanish: amortiguar suavizar proteger
• Swedish: dämpa, mildra

• ttbc Breton: distronsañ
• ttbc Interlingua: amortir
• Volapük: kusenön

A cushion (from Old French coisson, coussin; from Latin culcita, a quilt), is a soft bag of some ornamental material, stuffed with wool, hair, feathers, polyester staple fiber, non-woven material, or even paper torn into fragments. It may be used for sitting or kneeling upon, or to soften the hardness or angularity of a chair or couch. Cushions and rugs can be used temporarily outside, to soften a hard ground. They can be placed on sunloungers and used to prevent annoyances from moist grass and biting insects. Some dialects of English use this word to refer to throw pillows as well.

The cushion is a very ancient article of furniture; the inventories of the contents of palaces and great houses in the early Middle Ages constantly made mention of them. Cushions were then often of great size, covered with leather, and firm enough to serve as a seat, but the steady tendency of all furniture has been to grow smaller with time. Cushions were, indeed, used as seats at all events in France and Spain at a very much later period, and in Saint-Simon's time we find that in the Spanish court they were still regarded as a peculiarly honourable substitute for a chair. In France, the right to kneel upon a cushion in church behind the king was jealously guarded and strictly regulated, as we learn again from Saint-Simon. This type of cushion was called a carreau, or squaer. When seats were rude and hard, cushions may have been a necessity; they are now one of the minor luxuries of life.

The term cushion is given in architecture to the sides of the Ionic capital. It is also applied to an early and simple form of the Romanesque capitals of Germany and England, which consist of cubical masses, square at the top and rounded off at the four corners, so as to reduce the lower diameter to a circle of the same size as the shaft.

See also

• Pillow
• Cushioning

abate, absorb, absorb the shock, acoustic tile, aegis, afford support, air mattress, allay, alleviate, alleviative, alleviator, anesthetize, anodyne, antiknock, appease, arm, arm guard, armor, assuage, assuager, back, back up, backstop, baffle, baffler, balm, barrier, bear, bear up, bedding, benumb, bless, blubber, bolster, bolster up, brace, brattice, break the fall, breeze, buffer, buffer state, bulkhead, bulwark, bumper, buoy up, butter, buttress, calmative, carry, champion, clay, cloak, cloison, collision mat, compass about, contraceptive, copyright, cover, cradle, crash helmet, crutch, damp, dampen, dampener, damper, dashboard, deaden, deaden the pain, deafen, defend, diaphragm, diminish, dissepiment, dividing line, dividing wall, division, dodger, dolorifuge, dough, down, dull, ease, ease matters, eiderdown, ensure, face mask, feather bed, feathers, fence, fend, fender, finger guard, fleece, floss, flue, fluff, foam, foment, foot guard, fuse, gag, gentle, give relief, give support, goggles, governor, guarantee, guard, guardrail, hand guard, handrail, harbor, hard hat, haven, helmet, hold, hold up, hushcloth, innerspring mattress, insulate, insulation, insure, interlock, interseptum, kapok, keep, keep afloat, keep from harm, keep up, knead, knee guard, knuckle guard, laminated glass, laxate, lay, lend support, lenitive, lessen, life preserver, lifeline, lightning conductor, lightning rod, limber, limber up, litter, loosen, lull, mainstay, maintain, make safe, mash, mask, massage, mat, mattress, mellow, midriff, midsection, milden, mitigate, mitigator, moderator, modulator, mollifier, mollify, mudguard, muffle, muffler, mute, muzzle, nestle, neutralize, nose guard, numb, offset, pacificator, pacifier, pad, padding, palladium, pallet, palliate, palliative, panel, paries, partition, party wall, patent, peacemaker, pillow, pilot, plump, plush, police, poultice, pour balm into, pour oil on, preventive, prop, property line, prophylactic, protect, protective clothing, protective umbrella, pudding, puff, pulp, putty, quietener, reduce, register, reinforce, relax, relieve, restraining hand, ride shotgun for, rubber, rug, safeguard, safety, safety glass, safety plug, safety rail, safety shoes, safety switch, safety valve, salve, satin, screen, seat belt, secure, sedative, separation, septulum, septum, shake up, shelter, shield, shin guard, shock absorber, shock pad, shore, shore up, shoulder, show consideration, show mercy, show pity, shroud, silence cloth, silencer, silk, slacken, slake, sleeping bag, smash, soft pedal, soft-pedal, soften, soften the blow, soften up, soothe, soother, soothing syrup, sordine, sordino, sound-absorbing material, soundproofing, soundproofing insulation, sourdine, springs, squash, stabilizer, stay, stop, stupe, subdue, subsidize, subvention, sun helmet, supple, support, suppress, sustain, swansdown, temperer, tenderize, thistledown, tone down, tranquilizer, tune down, umbrella, underbed, underbedding, underbrace, undergird, underlie, underpin, underset, underwrite, upbear, uphold, upkeep, velvet, wall, wax, windscreen, windshield, wiser head, wool, zephyr