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burnished. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
burnished, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
burnished in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
burnished you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Verb
burnished
- simple past and past participle of burnish
Adjective
burnished (not comparable)
- Polished, made shiny by rubbing (especially with a burnisher).
- 1700, John Dryden, "Palamon and Arcite", in Fables, Ancient and Modern:
- The frame of burnish'd steel, that cast a glare
From far, and seemed to thaw the freezing air.
1907 August, Robert W Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:The house was a big elaborate limestone affair, evidently new. Winter sunshine sparkled on lace-hung casement, on glass marquise, and the burnished bronze foliations of grille and door.
- (figurative) Blazing, bright.
c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 167:Mor. Miſlike me not for my complexion,
The ſhadowed liuerie of the burniſht ſunne,
To whom I am a neighbour,and neere bred.
Bring me the faireſt creature North-ward borne,
Where Phœbus fire ſcarce thawes the yſicles,
And let vs make inciſion for your loue,
To proue whoſe blood is reddeſt,his or mine.
Derived terms