BURNISH

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does burnish mean? 

• BURNISH (noun)
  The noun BURNISH has 1 sense:

1. the property of being smooth and shiny

  Familiarity information: BURNISH used as a noun is very rare.

• BURNISH (verb)
  The verb BURNISH has 1 sense:

1. polish and make shiny

  Familiarity information: BURNISH used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BURNISH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The property of being smooth and shiny

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

burnish; gloss; glossiness; polish

Hypernyms ("burnish" is a kind of...):

smoothness (a texture without roughness; smooth to the touch)

effulgence; radiance; radiancy; refulgence; refulgency; shine (the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "burnish"):

French polish (the glaze produced by repeated applications of French polish shellac)

glaze (a glossy finish on a fabric)

Derivation:

burnish (polish and make shiny)

• BURNISH (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they burnish    ... he / she / it burnishes   
Past simple: burnished   
Past participle: burnished   
-ing form: burnishing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Polish and make shiny

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

buff; burnish; furbish

Context example:

buff my shoes

Hypernyms (to "burnish" is one way to...):

polish; shine; smooth; smoothen (make (a surface) shine)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence example:

They burnish the glass tubes

Derivation:

burnish (the property of being smooth and shiny)

 Context examples 

The setting sun cast a ruddy glare upon his burnished arms, and sent his long black shadow streaming behind him up the level clearing.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

On it stood a silver tray of smokables and a burnished spirit-stand, from which and an adjacent siphon my silent host proceeded to charge two high glasses.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was very clean and neat: the ornamental windows were hung with little white curtains; the floor was spotless; the grate and fire-irons were burnished bright, and the fire burnt clear.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Others polished the blade until all the rust was removed and it glistened like burnished silver.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been standing smiling on the door-step.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To me he was unweariedly kind, and always glad to see me in the galley, which he kept as clean as a new pin, the dishes hanging up burnished and his parrot in a cage in one corner.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Then he called his daughter and the children, then the apprentices, girls and boys, and they all ran up the street to look at the bird, and saw how splendid it was with its red and green feathers, and its neck like burnished gold, and eyes like two bright stars in its head.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)