Other forms: pincushions
A pincushion is a pad for sticking pins into when not in use. A tomato pincushion, stick it in the pincushion, a wrist pincushion.
The classic red tomato with a strawberry hanging from it is not decoration: the strawberry holds emery powder and is used to clean and sharpen a needle. Wool stuffing is preferred because the lanolin in it keeps the pins from rusting.
1nounpincushionA pad for sticking pins into when not in use.
“The tailor kept a pincushion strapped to his wrist while he fitted the suit.”
pincushion is a pad.
Pin plus cushion, recorded from the eighteenth century.
The noun is derived from pin + cushion. The verb is derived from the noun.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA