Pillowing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. A process of placing cushions or soft materials underneath for support or comfort
2. The act of creating a soft resting place with layers of fabric or padding
3. The action of forming or adjusting a soft structure to provide comfort or elevation

Etymology: "Pillowing" is simply "pillow" with the "-ing" ending, so its story is really the story of the noun. That noun reaches back to Latin "pulvinus," a word for a cushion or couch padding, and the Latin word itself was built from "pulvis," meaning "dust." The link makes sense once you picture what old pillows were stuffed with: loose, dusty filler that gathered into a soft mound under the head. English took the word from Old English "pyle" and "pylu," which descended from a Germanic form close to the Latin. Because English received it twice, once through the Germanic line and once more directly from Latin, "pillow" and "pulvinus" are doublets, two forms of one word that arrived by different routes. Continental cousins show the same root wandering across Germanic speech: Dutch "peluw," German "Pfühl," and a Low German "Pöhl" all name padding for resting the head or body. The verb built on that noun, "to pillow," simply means to rest or pad something on a soft support.