Talk:cushion

SAMPA pronunciation

Shouldn't be there /"kUSn=/ or /"kUS@n/ instead of /"kUS=@n/? In this word "n" is a syllabic consonant, not "S"... Maro 20:59, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

circular...

Nice circular definition :

cushion : to provide a soft pillow cushion

... — Riba ^(talk) 17:21, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

It's not circular. The use of "cushion" refers to an earlier definition, not to itself. It would be circular if the sense of the word used was the very sense being defined, or if the definition of term A uses a term B whose definition includes term A. —Internoob (Disc•Cont) 17:29, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Additional Meaning

In a translating dictionary I came across the entry,"noix pâtissière...cushion of veal" and I can't find a usable definition of either the English or the French phrase, although from the context it's a culinary usage.

☺ Dick Kimball (talk) 16:56, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

Etymology of Cushion

I think the word cushion stems from 'cushy' meaning 'comfortable'. The spelling also suggests so. Aursani (talk) 10:04, 11 September 2021 (UTC)

There's a near-insuperable problem with your proposed etymology: cushy is first attested some half-thousand years after cushion. Hazarasp (parlement · werkis) 12:15, 22 September 2021 (UTC)

RFV discussion: December 2021

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for verification (permalink).

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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cushion

rfv-sense: A riotous dance, formerly common at weddings. There is a cushion-dance, which may or may not be riotous... Notusbutthem (talk) 20:50, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

I can only find "cushion dance" or "cushion-dance". Nares quotes two 17th-century texts that call it the "cushi(o)n dance". Halliwell (Webster's source) has:

A riotous kind of dance, formerly very common at weddings, generally accompanied with kissing. See Brit. Bibl. ii. 270.

Clearly this is the OED's cushion-dance. "Brit. Bibl." is Brydges' British Bibliographer, which has "cushion kissing daunce". So I think Halliwell, and hence Webster - and now us - are all mistaken. This, that and the other (talk) 07:47, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

I am confused - how are we all mistaken? Certainly, the dance does not sound riotous, but it does sound like a real thing. Kiwima (talk) 01:29, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

We're mistaken in thinking the dance is called the "cushion" when it is actually called the "cushion dance". This, that and the other (talk) 01:40, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

How about:

• 1877, John Brand, Henry Ellis, Observations on Popular Antiquities, page 394:

  In reference to a nuptial feast, the cushion dance at weddings is thus mentioned in the Apophthegms of King James , the Earl of Worcester and others ( 1658 ) : “ At last when the Masque was ended and Time had brought in the Supper, the Cushion led the Dance out of the Parlour into the Hall;"

Kiwima (talk) 02:48, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

Yes, a use. (Here's the original text.) I also found another one: [1] So perhaps we are not as mistaken as I thought... This, that and the other (talk) 04:39, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

RFV-resolved Kiwima (talk) 19:39, 13 December 2021 (UTC)