burnish
UK /ˈbɜːnɪʃ/ · US /ˈbɝnɪʃ/ verb, noun
Forms burnishes burnishing burnished burnisht burnishest burnishedst burnisheth
- verb 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.”
- verb Of a stag: to remove the velvet (“skin and fine fur”) from (its antlers) by rubbing them against something; to velvet.
- verb (figuratively) To make (someone or something) appear positive and highly respected.
- verb To become bright, glossy, and smooth; to brighten, to gleam, to shine forth.
- noun A shine of something which has been polished; a lustre, a polish.
- noun A shiny layer applied to a surface or other thing.
- noun (uncountable) 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.”
- verb Of a person's body: to grow large or stout; to fatten, to fill out.
- verb (by extension) Of a thing: to increase in size; to expand, to spread out, to swell.
Synonyms
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English burnishen, burnysshen (“to polish, burnish; (figuratively) to brighten, give lustre to; to clean (something) until shiny; to decorate (with something shiny), adorn”) [and other forms], from burniss-, a stem of Old French burnir (compare, for example, the first-person present singular indicative form burnis), a variant of brunir (“to make clean and shiny, polish; to make brown”) (modern French brunir), from Frankish *brūnijan (“to polish, make resplendent”), from Proto-Germanic *brūnijaną (“to decorate; tan”), from Proto-Germanic *brūnaz (“brown”, adjective), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”, adjective). Unrelated to burn.
The noun is derived from the verb.
From Middle English barnishen, barnish (“to grow big (with child), to become pregnant; to grow stout or strong”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from barn (“child, offspring; infant; unborn child; human being, person; male person, man (especially a young man or young warrior)”). (from Old English bearn (“child”), from Proto-West Germanic *barn (“child”), from Proto-Germanic *barną (“child”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”)) + -ishen (suffix forming verbs).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To cause to shine; to make smooth and bright; to polish; specifically, to polish by rubbing with something hard and smooth; as, to burnish brass or paper.
- verb To shine forth; to brighten; to become smooth and glossy, as from swelling or filling out; hence, to grow large.
- noun The effect of burnishing; gloss; brightness; luster. Crashaw.
Etymology [OE. burnischen, burnissen, burnen, OF. burnir, brunir, to make brown, polish, F. brunir, fr. F. brun brown, fr. OHG. br; cf. MHG. briunen to make brown, polish. See Brown, a.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “burnish”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details