comforter

Etymology

From Middle English comfortour et al, from Anglo-Norman confortour, from Old French conforter. See comfort.

noun

1. A person who comforts someone who is suffering.
   The comforters, relaxed in sarongs after the day's work, kicked off their sandals at the top of Syed Omar's steps and made their obeisances to the wives, to the elder children, and to the gloomy head of the house. 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 511
2. (US) A padded cover for a bed, duvet, continental quilt.
3. (dated, chiefly UK) A woollen scarf for winter.
   The American schoolboy takes off his comforter and unbuttons his jacket before going in for a snowball fight. 1881 June, Felix L. Oswald, “Physical Education”, in Popular Science Monthly, page 148
   “[…] Captain Markam had been found lying half-insensible, gagged and bound, on the floor of the sitting-room, his hands and feet tightly pinioned, and a woollen comforter wound closely round his mouth and neck; whilst Mrs. Markham's jewel-case, containing valuable jewellery and the secret plans of Port Arthur, had disappeared. […]” 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 1, in The Fate of the Artemis
4. (UK, New Zealand, Australia) A pacifier.