a long hard bolster used, esp in the tropics, to support one's uppermost knee when sleeping on one's side
Dutch wife in American English
noun
(in tropical countries)
an open framework used in bed as a rest for the limbs
Word origin
[1875–80]This word is first recorded in the period 1875–80. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: authoritarian, cross-fertilization, graph, massage, slime mold