Cushion

A cushion (from Old French ''coisson'', ''coussin''; from Latin ''culcita'', a quilt), is a soft bag of some ornamental material, stuffed with Wool , hair, Feather s, 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 .

The cushion is a very ancient article of Furniture ; the inventories of the contents of Palace s and great houses in the early Middle Age s 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 square. 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

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Cushion