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ght; to polish; specifically, to polish by rubbing with something hard and smooth; as, to burnish brass or paper. The frame of burnished steel, that east a glare From far, and seemed to thaw the freezing air. Dryden. Now the village windows blaze, Burnished by the setting sun. Cunningham. Burnishing machine, a machine…

One who burnishes.

used by gold-wire drawers, bookbinders, etc.; -- so called from the agate fixed in it for burnishing.

for smoothing or enlarging holes in metal; sometimes made smooth or without edges, as for burnishing pivot holes in watches; a reamer. The broach for gun barrels is commonly square and without taper.

within us, while he talked with us by the way Luke xxiv. 32. The barge she sat in, like a burnished throne, Burned on the water. Shak. Burning with high hope. Byron. The groan still deepens, and the combat burns. Pope. The parching air Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire. Milton.

Burnished. [Obs.] Chaucer.

A method of preserving gilding unburnished, by touching with size. Knolles.

A thin leaf of sheet copper silvered and burnished, and afterwards coated with transparent colors mixed with isinglass; -- employed by jewelers to give color or brilliancy to pastes and inferior stones. Ure.

n; as, a frosted cake; frosted glass. Frosted work is introduced as a foil or contrast to burnished work. Knight.

To rub or scour to brightness; to clean; to burnish; as, to furbish a sword or spear. Shak. Furbish new the name of John a Gaunt. Shak.

ng light; splendor that dazzles the eyes; a confusing and bewildering light. The frame of burnished steel that cast a glare. Dryden.

To smooth or polish anything, as leater, by rubbing it with a glass burnisher.

e or case that covers or terminates the feet of certain animals, as horses, oxen, etc. On burnished hooves his war horse trode. Tennyson.

A dead or dull finish, as in gilding where the gold leaf is not burnished, or in painting where the surface is purposely deprived of gloss.

Having a dull surface; unburnished; as, matted gold leaf or gilding. Matted glass, glass ornamented with figures on a dull ground.

on a surface previously roughened, and then removing the roughness in places by scraping, burnishing, etc., so as to produce the requisite light and shade. Also, an engraving so produced.

s the waving sedges play with wind. Shak. The setting sun Plays on their shining arms and burnished helmets. Addison. All fame is foreign but of true desert, Plays round the head, but comes not to the heart. Pope.

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

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 clean…

High finish; smoothness; burnished elegance. [R.] Evelyn.