Antique French Stool Ottoman Coffee table Window Seat 19th C

Ottoman 
is a piece of furniture consisting of a padded, upholstered seat or bench, usually having neither a back nor arms, often used as a stool or footstool Ottomans are often sold as coordinating furniture with armchairs or gliders.

The first known use of the word ottoman was in 1605. The ottoman was brought to Europe from Turkey in the late 18th century. In Turkey, an ottoman was the central piece of family seating, and was piled with cushions. 

In Europe, the ottoman was first designed as a piece of fitted furniture that wrapped around three walls of a room. The ottoman evolved into a smaller version that fit into the corner of a room.

Ottomans took on a circular or octagonal shape through the 19th century, with seating divided in the center by arms or a central, padded column that might hold a plant or statue. 

George Bernard Shaw referred to an ottoman in this passage from his novel Pygmalion; "In the middle of the room there is a big ottoman; and this, with the carpet, the Morris wall-papers, and the Morris chintz window curtains and brocade covers of the ottoman and its cushions, supply all the ornament, and are much too handsome to be hidden by odds and ends of useless things."