Meaning & Analysis
To physically remove a person from their seat on a cushion, which represents a place of comfort, honor, or high status, and place them next to it instead.
Insights
Loss of Status or Power
The proverb signifies being deposed from a position of power, influence, or favor. It implies that someone has been supplanted or demoted by a rival.
Being Mistaken or in Error
It can mean to be incorrect, misguided, or far from the truth in an argument or assumption. In this sense, the 'cushion' represents the correct point or the heart of the matter.
Being Outmaneuvered or Deceived
The phrase is also used to describe being outwitted, tricked, or cleverly maneuvered by another person, thus losing an advantage or opportunity.
Failure and Missed Opportunity
It describes the failure to achieve a goal or maintain a position that was once secure, effectively 'missing the mark' and ending up next to the prize rather than possessing it.
Symbolism of Status
The cushion historically symbolizes a position of honor, comfort, and authority. In hierarchical societies, seating arrangements directly reflected status, so being moved 'beside the cushion' was a literal and symbolic demotion, a public loss of face and favor.
Psychology of Displacement
The proverb captures the psychological sting of being supplanted or proven wrong. It translates an abstract social setback—losing an argument, being outmaneuvered, or falling out of favor—into the tangible, physical experience of being displaced from a comfortable seat.
Social and Political Rivalry
The phrase reflects the competitive and precarious nature of social and political hierarchies. The existence of the proverb points to a common understanding that positions of influence are not permanent and are constantly under threat from rivals ('New commers').
Evolution of Meaning
Cross-references to proverbs like 'To miss his mark' indicate that the meaning evolved from physical displacement to encompass the broader idea of being incorrect or fundamentally mistaken in judgment or action.
Rhetorical Devices
Symbolism
The 'cushion' serves as a powerful and concise symbol for abstract concepts like status, comfort, authority, or correctness, making the meaning immediately graspable.
Metaphor
The entire phrase functions as a metaphor for various forms of social, political, or intellectual displacement and failure.
Euphemism
The expression is a mild or indirect way of stating that someone has been defeated, humiliated, or deposed, softening the description of a harsh outcome.
Transcription
Quotations
And I maie set you besyde the cushyn yit.
New commers haue set my Maister beside the cushin.
Thow sittes far besyd the cuschion.
A sleight plotted . . To thrust Mounchenseys nose besides the cushion.
Sometimes putting them besides the Cushion, and placing others in their roome.
He let fly at the Biscaine . . and as we say in our poor English Proverb, put him clean beside the Cushion.
The English say, Beside the Cusheon.
To be beside the cushion.
To miss his mark; beside the cushion.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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