n.
  - a bag of cloth stuffed with a mass of soft material, used as a comfortable support for sitting or leaning on.
 - something providing support or protection against impact. 
▸the elastic lining of the sides of a billiard table, from which the ball rebounds.
 
v.
  - soften the effect of an impact on.
 - mitigate the adverse effects of:
 to cushion the blow, wages were increased.
 
 
  Derivative
  
    - cushioned adj.
  - cushiony adj.
 
   
  Etymology
  ME: from OFr. cuissin, based on a L. word meaning ‘cushion for the hip’, from coxa ‘hip, thigh’.