POLISH OFF • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Polish off

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/pˈɑlɪʃ ɔf/ Listen

verb

Polish v. t. (past & past part. polished; pres. part. polishing)

To make smooth and glossy, usually by friction; to burnish; to overspread with luster; as, to polish glass, marble, metals, etc.

Hence, to refine; to wear off the rudeness, coarseness, or rusticity of; to make elegant and polite; as, to polish life or manners.

To polish off, to finish completely, as an adversary. (Slang)

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Etymology of 'Polish off'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Polish off" Quotes from Famous Books

... 'em straight, though. Architectin' was what Cliffy was aimin' at. He'd been studying that sort of thing out in Michigan, and now he was makin' a tour to see how it was done in other places, meanin' to polish off with a few months abroad. Then, after he'd got himself well soaked in ideas, maybe he'd go back to Bubble Creek, rent an office over the bank, and begin drawin' front elevations of iron ...

— Torchy • Sewell Ford

... pretty good order too. I suppose he hadn't used it much, as he was so little at home. It's open, though." She began to dust the top, where a row of school-books were arranged, and presently came to the writing-tablet, which she was about to polish off conscientiously. Suddenly she paused, stared, rubbed at something with her duster, and bending close, stared again. In a moment she raised her head and called in a ...

— The Boarded-Up House • Augusta Huiell Seaman

... Would I polish off Japan? Would I greet this famous man, Prince or Prelate, Sheik or Shah?— Figaro gi and ...

— The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Complete • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

... be dismissed without loss; for all such more or less obscure the meaning upon which they gather. The first step towards the polishing of most styles is to strike out—polish off—the useless words and phrases. It is wonderful with how many fewer words most things could be said that are said; while the degree of certainty and rapidity with which an idea is conveyed would generally be found to be in an ...

— A Dish Of Orts • George MacDonald