Standard Lemma guide

upholster

noun · verb · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /əˈpɒl.stə(ɹ)/
  • UK: /əˈpɐl.stə(ɹ)/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: AH0 P OW1 L S T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An upholder, a dealer in secondhand furniture and clothes; an upholsterer; a tradesman who finishes furniture.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To fit padding, stuffing, springs, webbing and fabric covering to (furniture).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

provide furniture with padding, springs, webbing, and covers

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: supply, provide, render, furnish

History

Etymology

From Middle English upholdester, upholster; equivalent to uphold + -ster.

Back-formation from upholsterer (“tradesman who finishes furniture”), from Middle English upholdester, variant of Middle English upholder (“dealer in small goods”), from upholden (“to repair, uphold”); equivalent to uphold + -ster. Sense development as well as form may have been influenced by conflation with unrelated bolster.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مُنَجِّد (munajjid) — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Bulgarian: тапицирам (tapiciram) — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Catalan: entapissar — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Dutch: polsteren — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Dutch: bekleden — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Esperanto: remburi — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Faroese: polstra — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Faroese: bólstra — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Finnish: verhoilla — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • German: aufpolstern — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • German: polstern — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • German: tapezieren — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Greek: επιπλοστρώνω (epiplostróno) — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Hungarian: kárpitoz — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Irish: cumhdaigh — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Italian: tappezzare — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Macedonian: тапаци́ра (tapacíra) — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Māori: whakapurupuru — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Māori: whakapuru — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Romanian: capitona — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Romanian: tapisa — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Russian: обива́ть (obivátʹ) — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Russian: оби́ть (obítʹ) — fit padding etc. to furniture
  • Spanish: tapizar — fit padding etc. to furniture