POLISHING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Polishing

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/pˈɑlɪʃɪŋ/ Listen

noun

Polishing n. A. & n. from Polish.

Polishing iron, an iron burnisher; esp., a small smoothing iron used in laundries.

Polishing slate.

(a)

A gray or yellow slate, found in Bohemia and Auvergne, and used for polishing glass, marble, and metals.

(b)

A kind of hone or whetstone; hone slate.

Polishing snake, a tool used in cleaning lithographic stones.

Polishing wheel, a wheel or disk coated with, or composed of, abrading material, for polishing a surface.

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)

Polish v. i. To become smooth, as from friction; to receive a gloss; to take a smooth and glossy surface; as, steel polishes well.

See images of 'Polishing'

Etymology of 'Polishing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Polishing" Quotes from Famous Books

... wished that he had not allowed himself to be deprived of his sword and armour. At the time it had seemed to him that the Earl's remark that the latter needed polishing and the former stropping betrayed only a kindly consideration for his guest's well-being. Now, it had the aspect of being part of ...

— The Man Upstairs and Other Stories • P. G. Wodehouse

... beyond the moat, on every side, the tents of the besieging party were pitched. Rather uncomfortable shivers ran down the children's backs as they saw that all the men were very busy cleaning or sharpening their arms, re-stringing their bows, and polishing their shields. A large party came along the road, with horses dragging along the great trunk of a tree; and Cyril felt quite pale, because he knew this ...

— Five Children and It • E. Nesbit

... veranda, smoking a cigar and trying to re-create, for his companion, a mental picture of an Indian camp as he had seen it in Wyoming in the middle '90's, when Sergeant Williamson came out from the house, carrying a pair of the Colonel's field-boots and a polishing-kit. Unaware of the Colonel's presence, he set down his burden, squatted on the floor and began polishing the boots, humming softly to himself. Then he must have caught a whiff of the Colonel's cigar. Raising his head, he saw the Colonel, ...

— Dearest • Henry Beam Piper

... experiments had to be made, to determine how best to employ oil colour so that the spots or pips may be equal-tinted, the outline clear and sharp, the pigment well adherent to the surface, and the drying such as to admit of polishing without stickiness. The plates for printing are engraved on copper or brass, or are produced by electrotype, or are built up with small pieces of metal or interlaced wire. The printing is done in the usual way of colour-printing, with as many plates as there are colours (usually five), ...

— The Gaming Table: Its Votaries and Victims - Volume II (of II) • Andrew Steinmetz

... nurses led me to a large room on the second floor. As we neared the door a young interne, so the nurse told me, came out. He was thoughtfully polishing his glasses. ...

— 32 Caliber • Donald McGibeny

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