upholstery

Etymology

It is formed from English upholster + -y,^[2][3][4] whose first part is an obsolete noun meaning a dealer in small goods,^[3][5][6] from Middle English upholdester,^[7][3][8] formed from upholden (“to keep up, repair”) and the suffix -ster.^[7][2][3][8] The verb uphold is a compound of up and hold.^[5][3] The Shorter Oxford takes the word as formed like upholsterer, with the ending -ery.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

An upholsterer's work or materials: 1649, in John Taylor's Wandering.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1597,^[4] and Etymonline the 1640s.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English an upholder (about 1300) or upholdester (1411) was a dealer in small or second-hand goods, clothes and furniture;^{[10][8][7][3]} Etymonline suggests that the idea was one who carries on a business, or that uphold meant to repair, to keep from falling.^[8][10] From 1554 the upholster was especially a maker and seller of beds and bedding,^[2] and such a tradesman had to re-cover furniture, so that upholstery was used for this work in the mid-17th century.^[10] The longer upholsterer followed in 1613,^[3][2] and the verb upholster is a back-formation recorded in American English from 1853.^[3][8][10] Today upholstery is chiefly the padding and fabric of a seat.^[4][11]

Timeline

• 1649 – an upholsterer's work or materials; the fabrics and stuffing of furniture.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the word to 1597.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The materials, such as fabric, padding and springs, used to give furniture a soft covering, and especially the fabric of a seat: The car's leather upholstery was cracked.^[4][11][2]
2. The work, craft or business of upholstering.^[11][9]

Related words

• reupholstery
• upholster
• upholsterer
• uphold
• upholder

Usage notes

Ayto points out that upholster has no etymological connection with holster.^[5]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins