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Bed with pillow (right) and bolster (left)
A bolster (etymology: Middle English, derived from Old English, and before that the Germanic word *ulstraz) is a long narrow pillow or cushion filled with cotton, down, or fibre. In western countries, it is usually placed at the head of bed and functions as head or back support. In southeast Asian countries, in particular Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, the bolster is designed to be hugged when sleeping. It is called a dakimakura in Japanese. In the Philippines, many call it the "hotdog pillow" (or more natively, "tandayan") following the close resemblance to the food bearing that name. In Chinese, its hanyu pinyin is "bao zhen" (lit. "hugging pillow"). In cantonese, it is called "Lam Chim". The Indonesian/Malay folks called it "bantal peluk" or "bantal guling".
Tradition suggests that a wife would fashion the bolster out of bamboo and give it to her husband when he traveled away from home so that he would not be lonely at night, hence the name "bamboo wife," or "Dutch wife," or chikufujin in Japanese.
Also, bolsters are fitted into some car lower dashboards, to protect un-belted drivers and front seated passengers knees in the event of a head on collision, where the passengers would be forced forward. This is a requirement to US law. However, European law doesn't expect such a specification. In the event of a head on collision, the knees would, theoretically, would be protected from the cushion. However, extensive tests show it doesn't really protect much as sharp objects could be pushed through and severely damage the legs of the passengers. Jeep Cherokee is a car which includes the US specification, and sold in Europe.
Bolster also is a synonym for the word "expand".
References
^ Throwpillowsource.com
EuroNCAP
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