From Middle English pilwe, from Old English pyle, pylu (“pillow”), from Proto-West Germanic *pulwī (“pillow”), from Latin pulvīnus (“cushion”), derived from pulvis (“dust, powder”) +‎ -īnus (“-ine”), for the filler of a pillow. Doublet of pulvinus.

Cognate with Saterland Frisian Peel (“pillow”), Alemannic German Pfulme (“pillow”), Dutch peluw (“a long, narrow pillow”), German Pfühl (“a big and soft pillow”), German Low German Pöhl (“pad, pillow, cushion”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪl.əʊ/

  • Audio (UK):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪl.oʊ/

  • Audio (US):

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• (US, dialectal) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛl.oʊ/
• Rhymes: -ɪləʊ

pillow (countable and uncountable, plural pillows)

1. A soft cushion used to support the head in bed.
   • 1853, John Ruskin, “Roman Renaissance”, in The Stones of Venice, volume III (The Fall), London: Smith, Elder, and Co.,[…], →OCLC, § LVII, page 74:

     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.

2. Any similar head support used for sleep, such as a neck pillow or a hard porcelain pillow. Example: She slept with her head on the pillow.
3. (geology) A pillow lava.
4. (engineering) A piece of metal or wood, forming a support to equalize pressure; a brass; a pillow block.
5. (nautical) A block under the inner end of a bowsprit.
6. The socket of a pivot.
7. (uncountable) A kind of plain, coarse fustian.

• → Māori: pera

pillow (third-person singular simple present pillows, present participle pillowing, simple past and past participle pillowed)

1. (transitive) To rest as on a pillow.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter X, in Francesca Carrara.[…], volume III, London: Richard Bentley,[…], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 73:

     ...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,...

   • 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:

     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.

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

     She had pillowed her head on her arm.