pillow

plural pillows

1. countableuncountableA soft cushion used to support the head in bed.

   She, walking like a killer She, another night another pillow Nowhere places, nowhere faces, no one wants to see […]

   1996, Brett Anderson, “She”, in Coming Up, performed by Suede

   1 more example

   The appearance of the entire tomb is as if the warrior had seen the vision of Christ in his dying moments, and had fallen back peacefully upon his pillow, with his eyes still turned to it, and his hands clasped in prayer.

   1853, John Ruskin, “Roman Renaissance”, in The Stones of Venice, volume III (The Fall), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, § LVII, page 74

2. countableuncountableAny similar head support used for sleep, such as a neck pillow or a hard porcelain pillow.

   She slept with her head on the pillow.

3. countableuncountablegeographyA pillow lava.
4. countableuncountableengineeringA piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.
5. countableuncountablenauticalA block under the inner end of a bowsprit.
6. countableuncountableThe socket of a pivot.
7. uncountableA kind of plain, coarse fustian.
8. countablein pluraluncountableA woman's breast, especially when large and seemingly soft.

present singular third person pillows · participle present pillowing · participle past pillowed · past pillowed

1. transitiveTo rest as on a pillow.

   She had pillowed her head on her arm.

   1942, Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Canongate, published 2006, pages 815–6

   2 more examples

   ...but Lucy was too thoroughly exhausted to awaken. There she lay, her head pillowed upon her arm, like a child that had cried itself to rest; while Francesca bent over her,...

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter X, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 73

   As we stop in front of a tenement to watch one of these groups, a dirty baby in a single brief garment—yet a sweet, human little baby despite its dirt and tatters—tumbles off the lowest step, rolls over once, clutches my leg with unconscious grip, and goes to sleep on the flagstones, its curly head pillowed on my boot.

   1890, Jacob A[ugust] Riis, “The Sweaters of Jewtown”, in How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 135

plural Pillows · alternative Pellow

1. A surname.