burnish

Definition

To make (something, such as a surface) bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; to polish, to shine.

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). Doublet of brown and brunneous; unrelated to burn. The noun is derived from the verb.

Example Sentences

• "In pottery, a stone is sometimes used to burnish a pot before firing, giving it a smooth, shiny look."
• "Lyke as the larke, vpon the somers day, / Whan Titan radiant burnisshith his bemis bryght, […]"
• "So forth he came all in a cote of plate, / Burniſht vvith bloudie ruſt; […]"