• (RP) IPA: /ˈpɪnˌkʊʃn̩/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈpɪnˌkʊʃ(ə)n/

pincushion (plural pincushions)

1. (sewing) A device, originally like a small, stuffed#Adjective|stuffed cushion#Noun|cushion, design#Verb|designed to have sewing#Noun|sewing pin#Noun|pins and needle#Noun|needles stick#Verb|stuck into it to store#Verb|store them safely; some modern pincushions hold the object#Noun|objects magnetically.
   • 1726 October 27, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Permitted to See the Grand Academy of Lagado. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: Printed for Benj[amin] Motte, […], OCLC 995220039 ↗, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 70 ↗:

     Some were condenſing Air into a dry tangible Subſtance, by extracting the Nitre, and letting the aqueous or fluid Particles percolate; others ſoftening Marble for Pillows or Pincuſhions; others petrifying the Hoofs of a living Horſe to preſerve them from foundring.

   • 1828 May 14, [Walter Scott], chapter VII, in Chronicles of the Canongate. Second Series. [...] In Three Volumes (The Fair Maid of Perth), volume I, Edinburgh: Printed [by Ballantyne and Co.] for Cadell and Co.; London: Simpkin and Marshall, OCLC 17487293 ↗, pages 191–192 ↗:

     He was accompanied by the honest Bonnet-maker, who, being, as the reader is aware, a little round man, had planted himself like a pin-cushion, (for he was wrapped in a scarlet cloak, over which he had slung a hawking-pouch,) on the top of a great saddle, which he might be said rather to be perched upon than to bestride.

   • 1905 January 12, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “An Exquisite of ’92”, in The Scarlet Pimpernel, London: Greening & Co., OCLC 51454043 ↗; The Scarlet Pimpernel: A Romance, popular edition, London: Greening & Co. Ltd., 20 March 1912, OCLC 235822313 ↗, page 58 ↗:

     Do you think I am going to allow my body to be made a pincushion of, by every little frog-eater who don't like the shape of your nose?

   • 1920, John Galsworthy, “Soames Entertains the Future”, in In Chancery, London: William Heinemann, OCLC 312632 ↗, part I, pages 87–88 ↗:

     Going up to the dressing-table he passed his hand over the lilac-coloured pincushion, into which were stuck all kinds of pins; a bowl of pot-pourri exhaled a scent that made his head turn just a little.

   • 1923, Compton Mackenzie, “The First Sermon”, in The Parson’s Progress, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, OCLC 2004982 ↗, page 24 ↗:

     All our foolish little paper-knives and pincushions have their origin in the gold and myrrh and frankincense that the three wise men brought to that lowly stable in Bethlehem.

2. The names of various plant#Noun|plants with flower#Noun|flowers or other part#Noun|parts resembling a pincushion.
   1. A flowering plant in the genus Leucospermum.
   2. A flowering plant in the genus Scabiosa.
   3. The coral bead plant, coral moss, or English baby tears (Nertera granadensis), an ornamental plant.
   4. The dustymaiden, a flowering plant in the genus Chaenactis.
   5. The pincushion cactus, of the genera Escobaria or Mammillaria.
   6. The pincushionplant, a flowering plant in the genus Navarretia.
3. (figuratively, colloquial) A person who is prick#Verb|pricked or stab#Verb|stabbed multiple#Adjective|multiple time#Noun|times with sharp#Adjective|sharp object#Noun|objects; specifically, someone who receives regular#Adjective|regular hypodermic needle injections.

   Insulin-dependent diabetics are human pincushions.

• French: pique-aiguille, pelote à épingles
• German: Nadelkissen
• Italian: appuntaspilli, cuscinetto, torsello
• Portuguese: alfineteira
• Russian: игольница
• Spanish: agujero, acerico, alfiletero

pincushion (pincushions, present participle pincushioning; past and past participle pincushioned)

1. (transitive, also, figuratively) To jab#Verb|jab or stick#Verb|stick repeatedly with one or more sharp#Adjective|sharp object#Noun|objects, as with pin#Noun|pins into a pincushion.

   The target was pincushioned with arrows.

   • 1860 January–June​, W[illiam] M[akepeace] Thackeray, “A Black Sheep”, in Lovel the Widower, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], published 1861, OCLC 3567262 ↗, page 146 ↗:

     As I saw Lady Baker hanging round her son's neck, and fondling his scanty ringlets, I remembered the awful stories with which in former days she used to entertain us regarding this reprobate. Her heart was pincushioned with his filial crimes.

2. (intransitive) To assume the shape#Noun|shape of a pincushion; specifically, of the image#Noun|image on a computer display#Noun|display, television, etc., to exhibit#Verb|exhibit pincushion distortion, where the side#Noun|sides curve#Verb|curve inwards.