polish

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See also: Polish

English

Etymology

From Middle English polishen, from Old French poliss-, stem of some of the conjugated forms of polir, from Latin polīre (to polish, make smooth), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (to drive, strike, thrust), from the notion of fulling cloth.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) enPR: pŏl'ĭsh, IPA(key): /ˈpɒl.ɪʃ/
  • (US) enPR: pä'lĭsh, IPA(key): /ˈpɑ.lɪʃ/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

polish (countable and uncountable, plural polishes)

  1. A substance used to polish.
    A good silver polish will remove tarnish easily.
  2. Cleanliness; smoothness, shininess.
    The floor was waxed to a high polish.
  3. Refinement; cleanliness in performance or presentation.
    The lecturer showed a lot of polish at his last talk.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

polish (third-person singular simple present polishes, present participle polishing, simple past and past participle polished)

  1. (transitive) To shine; to make a surface very smooth or shiny by rubbing, cleaning, or grinding.
    He polished up the chrome until it gleamed.
  2. (transitive) To refine; remove imperfections from.
    The band has polished its performance since the last concert.
    • 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations:
      Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  3. (transitive) To apply shoe polish to shoes.
  4. (intransitive) To become smooth, as from friction; to receive a gloss; to take a smooth and glossy surface.
    Steel polishes well.
    • a. 1626, Francis Bacon, Inquisitions touching the compounding of metals:
      The other [gold], whether it will polish so well Wherein for the latter [brass] it is probable it will
  5. (transitive) To refine; to wear off the rudeness, coarseness, or rusticity of; to make elegant and polite.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker ; nd by Robert Boulter ; nd Matthias Walker, , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:
      Arts that polish Life.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Further reading

Anagrams