Search the Dictionary

Smooth; polished. [Obs.] Rays of light falling on a polite surface. Sir I. Newton.

In a polished manner; so as to be smooth or glossy. [Obs.] Milton.

crab of the genus Porcellana and allied genera (family Porcellanidæ). They have a smooth, polished carapace. -- Porcelain jasper. (Min.) See Porcelanite. -- Porcelain printing, the transferring of an impression of an engraving to porcelain. -- Porcelain shell (Zoöl.), a cowry.

(Zoöl.), a handsome marine gastropod shell (Oliva porphyria), having a dark red or brown polished surface, marked with light spots, like porphyry.

ince; characteristic of the inhabitants of a province; not cosmopolitan; countrified; not polished; rude; hence, narrow; illiberal. "Provincial airs and graces." Macaulay.

A rubber of hard wood used in smoothing marble to be polished. Knight.

Freed from impurities or alloy; purifed; polished; cultured; delicate; as; refined gold; refined language; refined sentiments. Refined wits who honored poesy with their pens. Peacham. -- Re*fin"ed*ly (r, adv. -- Re*fin"ed*ness, n.

That which is refined, elaborated, or polished to excess; an affected subtilty; as, refinements of logic. "The refinements of irregular cunning." Rogers.

To bend back; to give a backwaas, a mirror reflects rays of light; polished metals reflect heat. Let me mind the reader to reflect his eye on our quotations. Fuller. Bodies close together reflect their own color. Dryden.

Something having a polished surface for reflecting light or heat, as a mirror, a speculum, etc.

An obsolete phrase of disputed meaning, -- perhaps, smooth or polished bone. His saddle was of rewel boon. Chaucer.

Any one of numerous species of small white polished marine shells of the genus Olivella.

aining to dew; resembling dew; dewy. Roric figures (Physics), figures which appear upon a polished surface, as glass, when objects which have been near to, or in contact with, the surface are removed and the surface breathed upon; -- called also Moser's images.

Any one of numerous species of small, polished, brightcolored gastropods of the genus Rotella, native of tropical seas.

Not polished; uncut; -- said of a gem; as, a rough diamond.

aving a rough grain or fiber; hence, figuratively, having coarse traits of character; not polished; brisque.

Hewn coarsely without smoothing; unfinished; not polished.

Full and smoothly expanded; not defective or abrupt; finished; polished; -- said of style, or of authors with reference to their style. [Obs.] In his satires Horace is quick, round, and pleasant. Peacham.

Characterized by roughness; umpolished; raw; lacking delicacy or refinement; coarse. Such gardening tools as art, yet rude, . . . had formed. Milton.

; to go to ruin; to become decayed or dilapidated; to perish. [R.] Though he his house of polished marble build, Yet shall it ruin like the moth's frail cell. Sandys. If we are idle, and disturb the industrious in their business, we shall ruin the faster. Locke.