burnish
Syllables: burn·ish/ˈbɜːnɪʃ/US/ˈbɝnɪʃ/
burnish verb: to make (something, such as a surface) bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; to polish, to shine.
Verb (1)
burnish (third-person singular simple present burnishes, present participle burnishing, simple past and past participle burnished)
- 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.
- Lyke as the larke, vpon the somers day, / Whan Titan radiant burnisshith his bemis bryght, […]1523, John Skelton, “A Ryght Delectable Tratyse vpon a Goodly Garlande or Chapelet of Laurell, […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd...
- Of a stag: to remove the velvet (“skin and fine fur”) from (its antlers) by rubbing them against something; to velvet.
- His [a hart's] head when it commeth firſt out, hath a ruſſet pyll vpon it, the which is called Veluet,[…]. When his head is growne out to the full bigneſſe, then he rubbeth of that pyll, and that is called fraying of his head. And afterwards he Burniſheth the ſame, and then his head is ſaid to be...1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “Of the Termes of Venery”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, →OCLC, page 244
- The Stagg or Buck burnisheth his head, by rubbing it againſt the trees, Het Hart wrijſt ſijn hooſt tegen de boomen.1658, Hendrick Hexham, “The Termes and Words of the Art of Hunting, and the Interpretation of Them out of English into Netherdutch”, in Het Groot Woorden Boeck: Gestelt in ’t Neder-duytsch, ende in...
- 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, Thomas Dekker, “The Seuen Deadly Sinnes of London: Drawne in Seuen Severall Coaches, through the Seuen Seueral Gates of the Citie Bringing the Plague with Them: 2. Lying. Or, The Second Dayes...
- [I]f he is not burnishing thinks he all's Time does lose, / For Sir Jan, Sir Jan, &c. [i.e., no dinner gave a Muse.]1719, [Thomas] d’Urfey, “The New Windsor Ballad”, in Songs Compleat, Pleasant and Divertive; […], volume II, London: […] W. Pearson, for J[acob] Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 104
- 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 (first performance), John Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. A Comoedy. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Leonard Lichfield […], published 1640, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2
- So vvhen the VVar has rais'd a Storm, / I've ſeen a Snake in human Form, / All ſtain'd in Infamy and Vice, / Leap from the Dunghill in a trice, / Burniſh and make a gaudy ſhovv, / Become a General, Peer, and Beau, / Till Peace hath made the Sky Serene, / Then ſhrink into it's Hole again.1706 (date written), [Jonathan Swift], “The Description of a Salamander. […]”, in Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, volume I, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, →OCLC, pages 374–375
Noun
burnish (countable and uncountable, plural burnishes)
- 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.
Verb (2)
burnish (third-person singular simple present burnishes, present participle burnishing, simple past and past participle burnished)
- 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, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XI.] A Discourse Anatomicall, of the Nature of Living Creatures, Part by Part, According to Their Particular Members.”, in Philemon...
- We must not all run up in height, like a hop-pole, but also burnish and spread in breadth: then shall we be well proportioned and complete.1640, Thomas Fuller, “Growth in Grace”, in Ioseph’s Partie-coloured Coat: Containing, a Comment on Part of the II. Chapter of the I. Epistle of S. Paul to the Corinthians. […], London: […] Iohn...
- Of a thing: to increase in size; to expand, to spread out, to swell.
- [Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects] is to paſſe a running examination ouer the vvhole Edifice, according to the properties of a vvell ſhapen Man. As […] vvhether the Fabrique bee of a beautifull Stature, vvhether for the breadth it appeare vvell...1624, Henry Wotton, The Elements of Architecture, […], London: […] Iohn Bill, →OCLC, II. part, page 117
- My thoughts began to burniſh, ſprout, and ſvvell, / Curling vvith metaphors a plain intention, / Decking the ſenſe, as if it vvere to ſell.[1633], George Herbert, “Jordan”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by...
burnish meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
burnish in Tamil
- மினுக்கு, துலக்குதல், மெருகிடல்
burnish in Bengali
- পালিশ করা, উজ্জ্বল করা
burnish in Malayalam
- മിനുക്കുക
burnish in Kannada
- ಹೊಳವು ಕೊಡು
More languagesFewer languages
- burnish in Arabic
- رَزَّزَ razzaza
Examples of burnish in a sentence
- So forth he came all in a cote of plate, / Burniſht vvith bloudie ruſt; […]1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William...
- Fire Renovates and Burniſheth the Mine, / The Spirit of VVisdom, makes the Face to ſhine: / Fire elevates, inclines things to Aſcend, / The Spirit of Faith too makes Souls upvvard tend: […]1663, Edward Sparke, “Poem 15. On Whitsunday.”, in ΘΥΣΙΑΣΤΗΡΙΟΝ [Thusiastērion] vel Scintilla-Altaris. Or Primitive Devotion in the Feasts...
- Novv the village vvindovvs blaze, / Burniſh'd by the ſetting ſun.1766, John Cunningham, “Day, a Pastoral. Evening.”, in Poems, Chiefly Pastoral, Dublin: […] Peter Wilson, […], and Boulter Grierson, […]...
- Thou [the sun] smilest on the sunflower craning after thee, / And burnishest my brother of the vane, […]1910, Edmond Rostand, translated by Gertrude Hall, Chantecler: Play in Four Acts, New York, N.Y.: Duffield and Company, →OCLC, act I, scene...
Synonyms of burnish
Forms of burnish
| third-person singular present | burnishes |
|---|---|
| present participle | burnishing |
| past participle | burnished |
| past | burnished |
| first-person singular past (archaic) | burnisht |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | burnishest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | burnishedst |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | burnisht |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | burnisheth |
| third-person singular past (archaic) | burnisht |
| plural past (archaic) | burnisht |
| past subjunctive (archaic) | burnisht |
| past participle (archaic) | burnisht |
Origin of burnish
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).
Words formed from burnish
Words that rhyme with burnish
Questions about burnish
- What does burnish mean?
- Burnish means to make (something, such as a surface) bright, shiny, and smooth by, or (by extension) as if by, rubbing; to polish, to shine.
- What is burnish in Tamil?
- Burnish in Tamil is மினுக்கு, துலக்குதல், மெருகிடல். See Burnish meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use burnish in a sentence?
- So forth he came all in a cote of plate, / Burniſht vvith bloudie ruſt; […]
- What part of speech is burnish?
- Burnish can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce burnish?
- Burnish is pronounced /ˈbɜːnɪʃ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of burnish?
- The past tense of burnish is burnished.
Words near burnish in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: burnish (page history and authors); burnish (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); burnish (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); burnish (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); burnish (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-burnish.wav.
Cite this entry: “burnish.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/burnish. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.