burnished

English

Alternative forms

• burnisht

Verb

burnished

1. simple past and past participle of burnish

Adjective

burnished (not comparable)

1. 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[illiam] 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.

2. (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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], 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

• preburnished
• unburnished