Word Direct Answers

What does "polish" mean?

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

Additional senses

  1. 2.Hence, to refine; to wear off the rudeness, coarseness, or rusticity of; to make elegant and polite; as, to polish life or manners. Milton. To polish off, to finish completely, as an adversary. [Slang] W. H. Russell.
  2. 3.To become smooth, as from friction; to receive a gloss; to take a smooth and glossy surface; as, steel polishes well. Bacon.
  3. 4.A smooth, glossy surface, usually produced by friction; a gloss or luster. Another prism of clearer glass and better polish. Sir I. Newton.
  4. 5.Anything used to produce a gloss.
  5. 6.Fig.: Refinement; elegance of manners. This Roman polish and this smooth behavior. Addison.

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