Pulvinate

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having a rounded, cushion-like swelling, especially on a plant part or animal structure
2. Shaped like a pad or pillow, with a full, bulging surface raised above the surrounding area
3. Describing a structure that is puffed out into a soft, convex cushion or bulge in form

Etymology: "Pulvinate" describes something shaped like a cushion: a surface that bulges or swells into a rounded, pillow-like form. It comes from Latin "pulvinatus," the past participle of a verb meaning to make into a cushion, which was built on "pulvinus," meaning a cushion or an elevation. The Latin noun was a fairly ordinary household word for a pillow or couch padding, and it also had a more specialised sense in Roman religious practice, where a cushioned couch was set out for the gods during a feast. English took the word from Latin as a technical term, so its sense stayed close to the original physical image. In botany and architecture it describes a swollen or cushion-shaped part, the kind of rounded, padded profile that the Latin noun first named.

Synonyms: pulvinated