Definition of "comforter"

Let no comforter delight mine ear / But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine.

1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene i]

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

There are 157 men with AIDS/ARC in the small unit where I am housed. Many of us are abandoned by friends, family, lovers and spiritual comforters. And this is why I am reaching out to you.

1988 April 9, Kevin Blackburn, “Penpals Needed for Prisoners with AIDS”, in Gay Community News, page 5

A vast quilt or comforter was heaped beside the bed, in a broad puddle of congealed blood, thick and shiny on the patterned rugs.

1984, William Gibson, Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, page 185

[…] round his neck he wore a flaming red worsted comforter, whereof the straggling ends peeped out beneath his threadbare Newmarket coat, which was very tight and buttoned all the way up.

1838 March – 1839 October, Charles Dickens, “chapter 29”, in The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1839

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