Sekirov Dictionary

burnish

UK /ˈbɜːnɪʃ/US /ˈbɝnɪʃ/

verb 6
noun 3
forms 5

verb6

•
To make (something, such as a surface) bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; to polish, to shine.
- In pottery, a stone is sometimes used to burnish a pot before firing, giving it a smooth, shiny look.
•
To become bright, glossy, and smooth; to brighten, to gleam, to shine forth.
- Hovv you itch Michaell, hovv you burnish! / VVill not this souldiers heat out of your bones yet, / Doe your eyes glovv novv? — 1624
•
(figurative) To make (someone or something) appear positive and highly respected.
- If a Lye, after it is molded, be not smooth enough, there is no instrumẽt to burnish it, but an oath; Svvearing giues it cullor, & a bright complexion. — 1606
•
Of a stag: to remove the velvet (“skin and fine fur”) from (its antlers) by rubbing them against something; to velvet.
- The Stagg or Buck burnisheth his head, by rubbing it against the trees, Het Hart wrijst sijn hoost tegen de boomen. — 1658
•
(dialect) Of a person's body: to grow large or stout; to fatten, to fill out.
- A man Grovveth in heigth and length untill he be one and tvventie yeares of age: then beginneth he to spread and burnish in squarenesse. — 1601
•
(dialect) Of a thing: to increase in size; to expand, to spread out, to swell.
- My thoughts began to burnish, sprout, and svvell, / Curling vvith metaphors a plain intention, / Decking the sense, as if it vvere to sell. — 1633

noun3

A shine of something which has been polished; a lustre, a polish.
A shiny layer applied to a surface or other thing.
•
The making of something bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; (countable) an instance of this; a burnishing, a polishing, a shining.
- With a good burnish, the old table should fetch a higher price.

forms

burnished · burnisht · burnishing · burnishes · burnisheth

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