▪ I. polish, n.1
(ˈpɒlɪʃ)
[f. polish v.]
1. The act of polishing or condition of being polished; smoothness and (usually) glossiness of surface produced by friction.
| 1704 Newton Optics (1721) 24 Another Prism of clearer Glass and better Polish. 1705 Addison Italy 352 Consider the great Difficulty of hewing it.., and of giving it the due Turn, Proportion and Polish. 1777 Mudge in Phil. Trans. LXVII. 325 In the beginning of the polish,..I worked round and round. 1806 Gazetteer Scotl. (ed. 2) 247/2 Some of the stones..take a very high polish. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. viii, You must be content with giving yourself a dry polish till we break the ice in the well. |
2. fig. Refinement: see polish v. 2.
| 1597 J. Payne Royal Exch. 19 This poore pamphlett,..without fynenes of methode, or pullishe of art. 1713 Addison Cato i, What are these wond'rous civilizing arts, This Roman polish, and this smooth behaviour? 1778 F. Burney Evelina xxvi, Where my education and manners might receive their last polish. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 425 What polish they have seems borrowed from the Mussulmans. 1902 F. W. H. Myers Wordsw. 105 Poetry depends on emotion and not on polish. |
3. a. A substance used to produce or to assist in producing smoothness or glossiness on any surface. See also French polish, furniture-polish, shoe-polish, stove-polish, varnish-polish, etc.
| 1819–1874 [see French polish]. 1881 Young Ev. Man his own Mech. §1624 The method of applying these polishes is the same for all. A flannel rubber is..dipped in the polish. |
b. Short for nail polish s.v. nail n. 13 a.
| 1917 Harrods Gen. Catal. 410 (heading) Manicure preparations and sundries... Majestic Polish..1/6. 1924 M. A. Burbridge Road to Beauty 115 Finish by using a bit more of the tinted polish and rub up with the buffer. 1937 H. Rubenstein This Way to Beauty viii. 119 A very white hand is flattered by a very dark polish. 1957 N. Williams Powder & Paint v. 144 Until 1930..more ‘colourless’ polish was sold than of the three shades of pink that made up the manicurist's palette. 1976 ‘M. Albrand’ Taste of Terror x. 61 The salesgirls never look at a customer. They're always staring at their nails to see if the polish is chipped. |
4. Comb., as polish-brush, polish-powder, polish-stone; polish remover, a preparation used for removing nail varnish.
| 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 143 With a polish-stone and the whiten, polish your foils. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Polish-powder, a preparation of plumbago for stoves and iron articles. 1861 Eng. Wom. Dom. Mag. III. 48 No blacking-brush is needed, nor polish-brush either. 1935 D. Cocks Help Yourself to Beauty xii. 249 Moisten a small pad of absorbent cotton with polish remover. 1973 M. Mackintosh King & Two Queens iv. 58 He played absently with the small bottle of polish remover..running the tiny brush over a thumb-nail. |
▪ II. polish, v.
(ˈpɒlɪʃ)
Forms: see below.
[ME. polis-, -iss-, -issh-, a. F. poliss-, lengthened stem of polir:—L. polīre to polish, smooth, refine: see -ish2.]
A. Illustration of Forms.
(α) 3–4 polis-, 4–5 polys(e, -yce, 4–6 police, 5–6 polise, Sc. poleis.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9975 (Cott.) Þat roche þat es polist sa slight. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1131 He may polyce him..Wel bryȝter þen þe beryl oþer browden perles. Ibid. 1134 Polysed als playn as parchmen schauen. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 127 And was policed ek so clene. c 1480 Henryson Test. Cres. 347 Ane poleist glas. |
(β) 4 polich, 4–5 polisch(e, -issch(e, 4–6 -issh(e, 5 -esh(e, -ysh, -ysch, pollishe, 5–6 polys(s)h(e, -ishe, 6–8 pollish, 5– polish.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 9975 (Gött.) Þe Roche þat es polichit [a 1425 polisshid] so slight. 1362 [see B. 1]. a 1400–50 Alexander 3223 Polyshyd all of pure gold. Ibid. 5129 With pellicans & pape-ioyes polischt & grauen. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. i. 406 Polish al vp thy werk. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 36 Thou thynkest hir pollisshed whan she is ful of rust. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 138 The more it is polysshed or rubbed. 1552 Huloet, Polyshe paper or parchment smothe. |
(γ) 5 pulisshe, -isch(e, -ich(e, 5–6 pullysshe, -ysh(e, 5–7 pullish(e. (Cf. It. pulire, pulito.)
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xvii. 80 Þai myȝt noȝt be pulischt. 1483 Cath. Angl. 293/1 To Pulische (A. Puliche). 1555 Eden Decades 194 As fayre and nette as though it were pullyshed. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xvii. §13 The rules will helpe, if they be laboured and pullished by practise. |
(δ) 4–5 pul(s)che, 5 pul(s)she, polshe.
| c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 121 Portreid and paynt & pulched full clene. c 1400 Chaucer's Merch. T. 338 (Petw.) A myrour polshed bright. c 1400 Beryn 1734, I-pulsshid, & I-pikid. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 5766 The cristal pulshede was so clene. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 416/1 Pulchon, polio. |
B. Signification.
1. a. trans. To make smooth and (usually) glossy by friction. Also absol. or intr.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9887 (Cott.) Dunward þan es [þis castel] polist slight. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 257 Þat Penitencia is pike he schulde polissche newe [v. rr. polisch, pulsshe]. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xvii. 79 Þai er so hard þat þare may na metell pulisch þam. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 156 b, These candelstickes wer polished lyke Aumbre. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 719 Before it be polished, it is of a reddish and rusty colour. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 213 Hard Wood they polish with Bees-wax... But Ivory they polish with Chalk and Water. 1803 T. Sheraton Cabinet Dict. 289 At other times they polish with soft wax. 1828 Webster, Polisher, n., the person or instrument that polishes. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 201 For the purpose of being polished and shaped into a column. 1878 W. S. Gilbert H.M.S. Pinafore i, I polished up the handle of the big front door. 1902 Daily Chron. 9 June 7/2 A negro whose boots he had declined to polish. 1902 D. C. Peel How to Keep House xii. 205 Dip a small piece of flannel lightly in colza oil and then into the bath-brick, and rub all the bright part well, wipe off with a soft cloth and polish with a leather. 1919 L. R. Balderston Housewifery vi. 133 Rottenstone is a fine gray powder... Like any gritty substance, it works best with a lubricator like oil. In this way it cleans and polishes. 1957 M. Dodd America's Homemaking Bk. xxiii. 189 There are commercial scratch removers that can be applied like a polish..or mix with varnish an oil paint to match the wood... Let it dry and then polish. 1961 Modern Maturity IV. vi. 19/2 Some women get a real thrill out of housework. They love to dust, scrub, polish, wax floors, move the furniture around from place to place, [etc.]. 1962 Home Managem. (Homecraft Series) 34/1 It can be sprayed straight on to a dusty surface and enables you to dust and polish in one operation. |
b. intr. for pass. † (a) To become bright. Obs. rare. (b) To become smooth, take a smooth and (usually) glossy surface.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 4589 Zeforus with softe wyndes soberly blew, Planettes in the pure aire pullishet full clene. 1626 Bacon Sylva §849 A kind of steel..which would polish almost as white and bright as silver. 1728 Young Love Fame iii. 224 'Tis solid bodies only polish well. 1898 J. Hutchinson in Arch. Surg. IX. 314 None of these patches..shewed the least tendency to polish. |
c. To wipe or scrape up and eat every morsel of food on (one's plate, bowl, etc.).
| 1908 A. J. Dawson Finn xix. 289 Finn polish the tin dish clean and bright. 1962 M. Duffy That's how it Was x. 85 The little Reeses polished their plates after every meal. 1972 M. Babson Murder on Show vii. 79 Pandora ate her dinner..and began polishing her bowl. |
2. fig. a. trans. To free from roughness, rudeness, or coarseness; to imbue with culture or refinement; to make more elegant or cultured; to refine. (In quot. 13.., To cleanse, purify.) Also absol.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter cxxxix. 3 Þai polyst þe wordis of þaire felony as neddirs. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2393, I halde þe polysed of þat plyȝt, & pured as clene. a 1400–50 Alexander 4427 Bot he can practise & paynt & polisch his wordis. c 1570 Pride & Lowl. (1841) 3 Thou maiest finde Some matters (though not pullished with art,) To make thee laugh. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 610 Arts that polish Life. 1773 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 14 Sept., The eldest [daughter] is the beauty of this part of the world, and has been polished at Edinburgh. 1818 Macaulay in Trevelyan Life & Lett. (1876) I. ii. 90 Books of amusement tend to polish the mind. 1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xv. 235 Mrs. Ayre was thrown back for employment on a series of maids, and was always to be found hard at work ‘polishing’ some raw girl. 1961 Vogue (N.Y.) July 100/3 They discovered any number of ways in which they wanted to polish their own interview techniques. 1961 E. Streeter Chairman of Bored xxiii. 221 Did men become perfectionists as they grew older, polishing, polishing, reluctant to let go? 1961 PMLA LXXVI. i. 310 The poet in a written tradition who generally never blots a line may once in a while pause and polish without incurring blame. |
† b. To smooth or gloss over. Obs. rare.
| a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 61 By hem.. that confessithe hem to the preest..that in shryfte excusithe hem and polysshithe her synne. |
c. With adv. or advb. phr.: To do away, put out, bring into some state by polishing.
| 1712 Steele Spect. No. 370 ¶2 Such elegant Entertainments as these, would polish the Town into Judgment in their Gratifications. 1718 Free-thinker No. 39. 281 An over-judicious Authour..polishes away the Strength and Energy of his Thoughts. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-Bks. II. 148 The wholesome coarseness..which no education..can polish out of the genuine Englishman. |
d. intr. for pass. To become refined.
| 1727 Swift Let. on Eng. Tongue Wks. 1755 II. i. 185 The French [language] for these last fifty years hath been polishing as much as it will bear. 1776 Foote Capuchin i. Wks. 1799 II. 384 She insists upon his polishing a little. |
3. trans. To bring to a finished or complete state; to deck out, adorn. Const. out, up.
| 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxi. (1887) 89 To polishe out this point with those effectuall reasons. 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier C iv, Other..there be..that pinche their bellies to polish their backs. 1885 Dunckley in Manch. Exam. 15 June 6/2 To dot his i's and cross his t's and polish up his manuscript. |
4. to polish off: to finish off quickly or out of hand; to do for or get rid of summarily. colloq. (orig. Pugilistic slang).
| 1829 Sporting Mag. XXIII. 247 Ned having polished off his sturdy opponent in thirty rounds. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxv, Mayn't I polish that ere Job off, in the front garden? 1850 Smedley F. Fairlegh (1894) 53 He can polish off a boy half a head taller than himself. 1872 Punch 10 Aug. 66/1 We nearly polished off the Licensing Bill in the Commons. 1873 Leland Egypt. Sketch-Bk. 282 The two between them could polish off a bottle of sherry in less time. |