Definition of "burnish"

(transitive)

1. (by extension) as if by, rubbing; to polish, to shine.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, […], published 1843, page 383, lines 1205–1208

   • So forth he came all in a cote of plate, / Burniſht vvith bloudie ruſt; […]Regarded by the Oxford English Dictionary as a nonce use.

     1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, stanza 29, page 289

   • 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 and Fasts of the Church of England. […], 3rd edition, London: […] R. Wood, for H. Brome, […], page 327

   • Thus was this place, / A happy rural ſeat of various view; / Groves whoſe rich Trees wept Odorous Gummes and Balme, / Others whoſe fruit burniſht with Golden Rinde / Hung amiable, Heſperian Fables true, / If true, here onely, and of delicious taſte: […]

     1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, lines 246–251

   • 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, […], stanza XIX, page 10

   • 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, act I, scene ii, page 24

2. Of a stag: to remove the velvet (“skin and fine fur”) from (its antlers) by rubbing them against something; to velvet.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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 full ſommed.

     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, 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 ’t Engelsch […] = A Large Netherdutch and English Dictionarie; […], Rotterdam: […] Arnout Leers, column 2

   • Deer are ſaid to burniſh their Heads, vvhen rubbing off a vvhite dovvny Skin from their Horns againſt a Tree, they thruſt 'em into a reddiſh Earth, to give 'em a nevv Colour and Luſtre.

     1728, E[phraim] Chambers, “BURNISHING”, in Cyclopædia: Or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; […] In Two Volumes, volumes I (A–H), London: […] James and John Knapton [et al.], page 135, column 2

3. (figuratively) To make (someone or something) appear positive and highly respected.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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 Triumph”, in Alexander B[alloch] Grosart, editor, The Non-dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker. […] (The Huth Library), volume II, London, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire: […] [Hazell, Watson, & Viney] for private circulation only, published 1885, page 34

   • [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.]A reflexive use.

     1719, [Thomas] d’Urfey, “The New Windsor Ballad”, in Wit and Mirth: Or Pills to Purge Melancholy; […], volume II, London: […] W. Pearson, for J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1719 (2nd printing; republished 19th century), page 104

   • Purſuit of fame vvith pedants fills our ſchools, / And into Coxcombs burniſhes our Fools; […]

     1726, [Edward Young], The Universal Passion. Satire the Last. To the Right Honourable Sir Robert Walpole., 1st edition, London: […] J[ames] Roberts […], page 8

   • He burnisheth stale villanies afresh. / Whilst, ravenous as sharks for human flesh, / His gaping audience bold the tumid food, / More grateful the more foully 'tis imbued.

     1870, The Superior Animal; a Satire, London: J. Haddon & Co., […], page 15

   • Bonnie Parker helped burnish her own image.

     2006, Laura Browder, “Maid Marians and Bad Mothers: From the Gungirls of the 1920s to the Gangsters of the 1930s”, in Her Best Shot: Women and Guns in America, Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, page 133

   • In particular, those who experienced her [Elizabeth of Hungary's]three rose miracles did the most to burnish her legend.

     2008, Otto Rahn, “Meran”, in Christopher Jones, transl., Lucifer’s Court: A Heretic’s Journey in Search of the Light Bringers, 1st U.S. edition, Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, part 2, page 108

   • Desperate to burnish her legacy, Louise pleads her case for higher status based on her achievements on Earth as a philanthropist, artist, and occasional royal rebel.

     2016, Geo Takach, “War of the Wild Roses”, in A. Hansen, S. Depoe, editors, Scripting the Environment: Oil, Democracy and the Sands of Time and Space (Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication), Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, Springer Nature, page 165

   • One of her [Sheryl Sandberg's] primary roles had been to charm Washington on Facebook's behalf, and protect and burnish its image. Neither project was going particularly well.

     2021 July 8, Sheera Frenkel, Cecilia Kang, “Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg’s partnership did not survive [Donald] Trump”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, archived from the original on 2022-11-29

(intransitive)

1. To become bright, glossy, and smooth; to brighten, to gleam, to shine forth.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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, 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, [Jonathan Swift], “The Description of a Salamander. […]”, in Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, London: […] John Morphew […], published 1711, pages 374–375

(countable)

1. A shine of something which has been polished; a lustre, a polish.  examples

2. A shiny layer applied to a surface or other thing.  examples

(uncountable) 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.  examples

Of a person's body: to grow large or stout; to fatten, to fill out.  quotations  examples

(by extension) Of a thing: to increase in size; to expand, to spread out, to swell.  quotations  examples