Link Centre Dictionary

polish

po·lish

UK/ˈpɒl.ɪʃ/ US/ˈpɑ.lɪʃ/ common
verb (3) adjective (1) noun (4)

verb

1.

(of surfaces) make shine

  • “shine the silver, please”
  • “polish my shoes”
Synonyms
2.

improve or perfect by pruning or polishing

  • “refine one”
Synonyms
3.

bring to a highly developed, finished, or refined state

  • “polish your social manners”
Synonyms

adjective

1.

of or relating to Poland or its people or culture

  • “Polish sausage”

noun

1.

the property of being smooth and shiny

Synonyms
2.

a highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality

  • “they performed with great polish”
  • “I admired the exquisite refinement of his prose”
  • “almost an inspiration which gives to all work that finish which is almost art” -Joseph Conrad
Synonyms
3.
4.

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • French polish
  • furniture polish
  • glacial polish
  • nail polish
  • piano polish
  • polish a turd
  • polish off
  • polish one's rocket
  • polish remover
  • polish the pearl
  • polish up
  • polish up on

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Pertaining to

Entails

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.