Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Burnish"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Burnish \Bur"nish\, v. i.
To shine forth; to brighten; to become smooth and glossy, as
from swelling or filling out; hence, to grow large.
A slender poet must have time to grow, And spread and
burnish as his brothers do. --Dryden.
My thoughts began to burnish, sprout, and swell.
--Herbert.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Burnish \Bur"nish\, n.
The effect of burnishing; gloss; brightness; luster.
--Crashaw.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Burnish \Bur"nish\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Burnished}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Burnishing}.] [OE. burnischen, burnissen, burnen, OF.
burnir, brunir, to make brown, polish, F. brunir, fr. F. brun
brown, fr. OHG. br?n; cf. MHG. briunen to make brown, polish.
See {Brown}, a.]
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.
The frame of burnished steel, that east a glare From
far, and seemed to thaw the freezing air. --Dryden.
Now the village windows blaze, Burnished by the setting
sun. --Cunningham.
{Burnishing machine}, a machine for smoothing and polishing
by compression, as in making paper collars.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
burnish
n : the property of being smooth and shiny [syn: {polish}, {gloss},
{glossiness}]
v : polish and make shiny; "buff the wooden floors"; "buff my
shoes" [syn: {buff}, {furbish}, {flush}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.