Adjacent Words

Varnish definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

V'ARNISH, n. [Low L. vernix.]
1. A thick, viscid, glossy liquid, laid on work by painters and others, to give it a smooth hard surface and a beautiful gloss. Varnishes are made of different materials and for different purposes. amber varnish is made of amber, lintseed oil, litharge and turpentine. Black varnish, for japanning wood and leather, is made by mixing lampblack with a proper quantity of a strong solution of gum-lac in spirit of wine.
2. An artificial covering to give a fair appearance to any act or conduct.
V'ARNISH, v.t.
1. To lay varnish on; to cover with a liquid, for giving any thing a glossy surface; as, to varnish a sideboard or table.
2. To cover with something that gives a fair external appearance.
Close ambition, varnish'd o'er with zeal.
3. To give a fair external appearance in words; to give a fair coloring to; as, to varnish errors or deformity.
Cato's voice was ne'er employ'd to clear the guilty, and to varnish crimes.
And bow the knee to pomp that loves to varnish guilt.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a coating that provides a hard, lustrous, transparent finish to a surface v
1: cover with varnish [syn: varnish, seal]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English vernisch, from Anglo-French vernis, from Old Italian or Medieval Latin; Old Italian vernice, from Medieval Latin veronic-, veronix sandarac Date: 14th century 1. a. a liquid preparation that when applied to a surface dries to form a hard lustrous typically transparent coating b. the covering or glaze given by the application of varnish c. (1) something that suggests varnish by its gloss (2) a coating (as of deposits in an internal combustion engine) comparable to varnish 2. outside show ; gloss I 3. chiefly British a liquid nail polish • varnishy adjective II. transitive verb Date: 14th century 1. to apply varnish to 2. to cover or conceal (as something unpleasant) with something that gives an attractive appearance ; gloss II 3. adorn, embellish • varnisher noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a resinous solution used to give a hard shiny transparent coating to wood, metal, paintings, etc. 2 any other preparation for a similar purpose (nail varnish). 3 external appearance or display without an underlying reality. 4 artificial or natural glossiness. 5 a superficial polish of manner. --v.tr. 1 apply varnish to. 2 gloss over (a fact). Derivatives: varnisher n. Etymology: ME f. OF vernis f. med.L veronix fragrant resin, sandarac or med.Gk berenike prob. f. Berenice in Cyrenaica

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Varnish Var"nish, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Varnished; p. pr. & vb. n. Varnishing.] [Cf. F. vernir, vernisser. See Varnish, n.] 1. To lay varnish on; to cover with a liquid which produces, when dry, a hard, glossy surface; as, to varnish a table; to varnish a painting. 2. To cover or conceal with something that gives a fair appearance; to give a fair coloring to by words; to gloss over; to palliate; as, to varnish guilt. ``Beauty doth varnish age.'' --Shak. Close ambition, varnished o'er with zeal. --Milton. Cato's voice was ne'er employed To clear the guilty and to varnish crimes. --Addison.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Varnish Var"nish, n. [OE. vernish, F. vernis, LL. vernicium; akin to F. vernir to varnish, fr. (assumed) LL. vitrinire to glaze, from LL. vitrinus glassy, fr. L. vitrum glass. See Vitreous.] 1. A viscid liquid, consisting of a solution of resinous matter in an oil or a volatile liquid, laid on work with a brush, or otherwise. When applied the varnish soon dries, either by evaporation or chemical action, and the resinous part forms thus a smooth, hard surface, with a beautiful gloss, capable of resisting, to a greater or less degree, the influences of air and moisture. Note: According to the sorts of solvents employed, the ordinary kinds of varnish are divided into three classes: spirit, turpentine, and oil varnishes. --Encyc. Brit 2. That which resembles varnish, either naturally or artificially; a glossy appearance. The varnish of the holly and ivy. --Macaulay. 3. An artificial covering to give a fair appearance to any act or conduct; outside show; gloss. And set a double varnish on the fame The Frenchman gave you. --Shak. Varnish tree (Bot.), a tree or shrub from the juice or resin of which varnish is made, as some species of the genus Rhus, especially R. vernicifera of Japan. The black varnish of Burmah is obtained from the Melanorrh[oe]a usitatissima, a tall East Indian tree of the Cashew family. See Copal, and Mastic.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(varnishes, varnishing, varnished) 1. Varnish is an oily liquid which is painted onto wood or other material to give it a hard, clear, shiny surface. The varnish comes in six natural wood shades. N-MASS 2. The varnish on an object is the hard, clear, shiny surface that it has when it has been painted with varnish. He brought out the fiddle, its varnish cracked and blistered. N-SING 3. If you varnish something, you paint it with varnish. Varnish the table with two or three coats of water-based varnish... ...the varnished floorboards. VERB: V n, V-ed 4. see also nail varnish

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Lacquer. 2. Glossy appearance. 3. Outside show, gloss, cover, palliation, mitigation. II. v. a. 1. Lacquer, japan, glaze. 2. Polish, adorn, decorate, garnish, gild, embellish. 3. Palliate, gloss, extenuate, excuse, glaze over, disguise.

Moby Thesaurus

acting, adorn, affectation, air brush, alibi, allow for, allowance, apology, appearance, apply paint, art paper, attitudinizing, becloud, bedaub, bedizen, befog, begild, belie, besmear, bias, blanket, blind, bluff, bluffing, brush, brush on paint, buff, burnish, calcimine, camera lucida, camera obscura, camouflage, canvas, chalk, charcoal, cheating, cloak, cloud, coat, coating, color, coloring, complexion, conceal, convolute, cover, cover story, cover up, cover-up, crayon, curtain, dab, daub, deception, decontamination, decorate, deep-dye, delusion, device, diminish, dip, disguise, dissemblance, dissemble, dissembling, dissimulation, distemper, distort, distract attention from, double-dye, drawing paper, drawing pencil, dress up, drier, dye, ease, easel, eclipse, elaborate, embellish, emblazon, embroider, enamel, engild, enrich, ensconce, enshroud, envelop, excuse, extenuate, extenuating circumstances, extenuation, extenuative, facade, face, facing, fakery, faking, false air, false front, false show, falsify, falsity, fast-dye, feigning, feint, festoon, film, finish, fixative, flourish, four-flushing, fraud, fresco, front, fudge, fur, furbish, garble, gild, gilding, gilt, glance, glaze, gloss, gloss over, grain, ground, guise, handle, hide, hue, humbug, humbuggery, ignore, illuminate, imbue, imposture, ingrain, involve, japan, keep under cover, lacquer, lame excuse, lay figure, lay on color, lessen, load with ornament, locus standi, luster, make allowance for, mask, masquerade, maulstick, medium, meretriciousness, mince, miscite, miscolor, misconstrue, misdirect, misinterpret, misquote, misrender, misreport, misrepresent, misstate, misuse, mitigate, mitigation, obfuscate, obscure, occult, ornament, ostensible motive, ostentation, outward show, overcharge, overlay, overload, overstate, paint, paintbrush, palette, palette knife, palliate, palliation, palliative, parget, pastel, pellicle, pencil, pervert, pigment, pigments, playacting, polish, poor excuse, pose, posing, posture, pretense, pretension, pretext, prime, protestation, public motive, put-off, qualification, refuge, representation, revetment, rub, scale, scour, scratchboard, screen, scum, seeming, semblance, shade, shadow, sham, shellac, shine, show, shroud, siccative, simulacrum, simulation, sketchbook, sketchpad, skin, slant, sleek, slick, slick down, slop on paint, slur over, smear, smoke screen, soft-pedal, soften, softening, spatula, speciousness, spray gun, stain, stalking-horse, stipple, strain, stratagem, stump, subterfuge, sugarcoat, tinct, tincture, tinge, tint, titivate, tone, torture, trick, trick out, twist, undercoat, understate, veil, veneer, warp, wash, wax, white, whiten, whitewash, whitewashing, window dressing