upholster
Americanverb (used with object)
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upholsters,
present (3rd person singular)
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upholstered,
past participle, past
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upholstering
present participle
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to provide (chairs, sofas, etc.) with coverings, cushions, stuffing, springs, etc.
-
to furnish (an interior) with hangings, curtains, carpets, or the like.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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upholstersimple
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upholsterssimple
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have upholsteredperfect
-
has upholsteredperfect
-
am upholsteringprogressive
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are upholsteringprogressive
-
is upholsteringprogressive
-
have been upholsteringperfect progressive
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has been upholsteringperfect progressive
Past
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upholsteredsimple
-
had upholsteredperfect
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was upholsteringprogressive
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were upholsteringprogressive
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had been upholsteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of upholster
1850–55, back formation from upholsterer
Explanation
To upholster is to cover a piece of furniture with fabric and soft padding. If your brother's cat scratches up your sofa, you may want to upholster it — but it's probably wise to wait until your brother and Mr. Whiskers move out. Upholstery is everything that covers your couches, love seats, and soft chairs, from the springs to the velvet cushions. The act of making these furniture coverings is also upholstery, and when you do it, you upholster. The word for the expert who specializes in this, upholsterer, came first, from the Middle English upholden, "to repair."
Vocabulary lists containing upholster
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
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The Night Circus
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The Night Diary
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It seems unfathomable that the German will not want to upholster his defence and attack, too, though.
From BBC ● Jan. 6, 2026
When Mathis fell in love with the Southwest design of a rug, he used the fabric to upholster an armchair in his sitting room.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 13, 2024
People in novels can and should be able to upholster their realities with art and films from this one.
From New York Times ● Apr. 23, 2021
Why, in other words, should people believe elephants are in peril when you can legally upholster your car with their hides?
From National Geographic ● Dec. 20, 2017
Sammy and Frenchy carried him down to the boat and lifted him on board, where they stretched him on the foot-boards which we had taken the precaution to upholster luxuriously with dried seaweed.
From Sweetapple Cove by George Van Schaick
TO THE Quechua-speaking subsistence farmers who live in the higher reaches of the Peruvian Andes, the sphagnum moss that upholsters the land near their villages is a nuisance.
From Economist ● Apr. 5, 2018
“I turn down more jobs than I can take,” said Turner, who upholsters high-end vehicles.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 16, 2018
He upholsters himself in his uniform, pockets his loupe and tweezers, rolls up his white gloves.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
As he upholsters his pipe with a stuffing of cut-plug, her master would have me observe that Belle's face is "dished" and that her eyes are free from wrinkles of surrounding fat.
From Seeds of Pine by Janey Canuck
One after another, they gather up the thick carpet of white powder that upholsters the ground and send it broadcast over our shoulders!
From Under Fire: the story of a squad by Fitzwater Wray
There are opulent chairs, upholstered in pale yellow; a black and white print of a trawler that nods to Hull's fishing heritage.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
I end my visit to Trump Doral sitting on a stool upholstered with burgundy leather and dark oak at Champions Bar and Grill, the central social club on the Trump Doral campus.
From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2026
Among the pieces available were a vintage chest, tables, and chair, antique mirrors, hand-knotted rugs, a striped fabric tuxedo sofa, upholstered wing back chairs, “lots of fun lamps and chandeliers,” and several leather chairs.
From MarketWatch ● May 18, 2026
The Lawson-Fenning chairs are upholstered in a floral fabric from Bob Collins & Sons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026
He saw a couch upholstered with flowers that shaded from lavender to rose like the feathers on a dove’s wings.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
They do upholstering, but they have a lot of cute little tchotchkes.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026
For the ultimate in softness, try upholstering the walls with fabric.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 8, 2024
She started in 1993 and finished the needlework last year, finally the upholstering in spring this year.
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2019
DC’s turgid Extended Universe, overseen by Zack Snyder, sorely lacks this careful upholstering.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 15, 2017
The son of an architect and an artist, he worked his way through college, driving an ice-cream truck and upholstering theater seats.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
